


Hunted | HermitCraft AU

by RunningRiver05



Series: Hunted AU [1]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blackmail, Broken Bones, Canon Non-Binary Character, Eye Gouging, Eye Trauma, Human/Dragon Hybrids, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Muteness, Non Consensual Possession, Possession, Selectively mute, Suicide, Suicide Notes, Torture, Trauma, ao3 give ren a proper tag challenge, forced transformation, grian has wings au, hermitcraft au, human animal hybrid, seriously, set in season 6, the original characters are the villians
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 30
Words: 24,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27794110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunningRiver05/pseuds/RunningRiver05
Summary: Grian's tired of running.He's tired of letting that thing pursue, and he's tired of losing his friends.Maybe he'll find a place to rest under the protection of Xisuma with the other hermits.Of course, nothing is that simple.--Please heed the warning of the tags!!
Series: Hunted AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2033467
Comments: 18
Kudos: 79





	1. Prologue

Grian was tired of running. 

His legs hurt and his wings ached and he felt sick to his stomach and he felt so _gosh darn unsafe. ___

__He wanted peace and he wanted some quiet. He was tired of hearing the whispers of it in his ears, and he was tired of remembering what it had forced him to do to them._ _

__He wanted Evo back and the chance to relax with his old friends._ _

__Friends._ _

__That was a term Grian hadn't heard when refered to him in a while._ _

__After all, none of the others in Evo had looked at him the same after he'd let his guard down._ _

__After it had caught up to him, and made him done something terrible._ _

__Overall however, all Grian wanted was to be freed from the hold of _it. _____

____That seemed too much to ask, unfortunately._ _ _ _

____Grian landed on the ground a few metres away from the market he frequented on a server mainly comprised of admins, Grian having been granted access through his ownership of Evo before it had disbanded. No one was really aware of Evo's end yet, so Grian hadn't been banned or kicked yet which was good for him._ _ _ _

____It probably wasn't safe, and Grian was aware that it could come for him at any point in time, but this gathering / market esq server was Grian's safe place while he tried to find another temporary server to stay on while he fled from it._ _ _ _

____Walking through the area, Grian kept his head low, watching everyone. He could see that there were four admins on that particular server, none of whom he know. The only name that was somewhat familia to him had to be Yammy, a friend whom he'd briefly met through one of his other friends._ _ _ _

____If Grian remembered correctly, Yammy's server was a hardcore._ _ _ _

____That wasn't important right now, however. Grian was more focused on wanting to take a bit of time to relax._ _ _ _

____This was the only place that would give him any peace of mind._ _ _ _

____His tense shoulders slumped slightly as he walked, a relieved look on his face. He could see Yammy and someone with a dark grey helmet in the distance, chatting. The other two seemed to have left, and a quick glance at his checker confirmed that him, Yammy and the helmeted figure were the only ones currently on this server._ _ _ _

____Grian leaned back against one wall, letting out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. He felt weary, and he was sure he hadn't slept in weeks to be quite honest._ _ _ _

____Everything suddenly seemed to be going foggy, and Grian's mind felt clouded. His eyes were drooping, and he felt so tired..._ _ _ _

____The helmeted man and Yammy seemed to notice and were rushing forwards, though Grian payed them no attention. Everything was slow now, and he didn't know what was going on._ _ _ _

____Then everything went black for Grian._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____\---_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____He woke to find himself coverd in soft blankets, on some kind of bed._ _ _ _

____Sitting up groggily, Grian looked around, seeing that he was somewhere unfamiliar. He was pretty sure he could see prismarine, though his mind was foggy and he wasn't exactly sure to what was going on._ _ _ _

____The helmeted figure from earlier(? how long had Grian been passed out?) then walked in, seeming to smile from behind his helmet. Grian could see the figure's eyes light up behind the purple screen covering their eyes._ _ _ _

____"Goodness, you're awake!" The figure said, and Grian shifted on the bed, feeling mildy uncomfortable. After all, he'd woken in the first bed he'd seen since Evo, and this mysterious stranger who'd seemingly brought him here looked like he was glad to see Grian._ _ _ _

____"Yeah, I think I am." Grian said, cracking a smile. Maybe if he could charm this person, he could find out where he is and if he's safe._ _ _ _

____That plan was the best Grian had at least._ _ _ _

____"I'm Xisuma." Xisuma said, seemingly grinning behind his helmet._ _ _ _

____"Now, er, where are we?"_ _ _ _

____Xisuma chuckled. "We're in HermitCraft, Season 6! We started about a month ago since the old world we'd just about finished with." Xisuma explained, Grian taking in all that information. He nodded slowly, looking between Xisuma and the floor._ _ _ _

____"So, where do you come from, Grian?" Xisuma asked, making Grian jump._ _ _ _

____"Well, I, err, I used to belong to a server called Evolutions. We disbanded about a month ago, and I've just been wandering around ever since." Grian decided to summaise over giving Xisuma a proper description of the past few months._ _ _ _

____After all, Xisuma had been lovely towards Grian, and he'd rather not let Xisuma know about it just yet. After all, Xisuma could deem Grian dangerous, and he really wanted to stay here for as long as possible._ _ _ _

____If Grian didn't even know where the enterance to HermitCraft Season 6 is, then it likely isn't gonna find Grian and the enterance any time soon. Grian would be safe, until he recovered from his fainting spell and was inevitably told to leave when it found them and decided to ruin yet another group of friends like it had done to Grian in Evo._ _ _ _

____Xisuma seemed to minorly have picked up on Grian's thought train._ _ _ _

____"So you don't have anywhere to go?" Xisuma asked, Grian nodding in return._ _ _ _

____"Well, I'd like to extend an invitation to you, from me, for you to become a Hermit, here on HermitCraft."_ _ _ _

____And Grian's heart leapt at the chance._ _ _ _


	2. Spoon time with Mumbo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mumbo the spoon fails to recognise his old friend! More at 5

Climbing out of his hole in the ground, Mumbo glanced up at his sphere framework, frowning slightly. He'd been working on it for ages, and it didn't look _quite _right to him. He wasn't, however, much of a builder and honestly had no way to know how to fix it.__

__Staring at it for a little longer, Mumbo frowned, trying to see what was wrong with it. Was it squashed? Stretched? Was it the perfect dimentions for what he wanted to build?_ _

__Mumbo wasn't too sure._ _

__Either way, Xisuma had summoned everyone (at least, most of the Hermits) to the shopping district. Something about a new arrival?_ _

__Mumbo wasn't sure. He'd not really been paying attention if he were completely honest._ _

__Smoothing his suit out with his hands, Mumbo grimaced slightly, noticing the red speckled dust now patchily covering the front of his suit. Mumbo should _really _stop doing redstone work right before he was supposed to meet somewhere with someone, but he'd lost track of the time, and one thing had lead to another which ended up disadvantaging Mumbo.___ _

____There wasn't any time for Mumbo to clean himelf up though. He needed to get to the shopping district before Doc killed him for being late._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____\---_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____Climbing out of his boat, Mumbo was quick to find where the other Hermits were gathered, slipping into the crowd without much of a second thought. He looked around before he spotted Iskall and Stress, quickly walking over to them. He may have been on the HermitCraft servers since season 2, but that didn't mean that Iskall wasn't one of his current closest friends._ _ _ _

____Fortunately for the other Hermits, Iskall had been ejected from the middle of the crowd and was towards the back, which meant that Mumbo wouldn't be blocking their vision. During the last season 5 meeting, Mumbo had made the mistake of standing towards the front._ _ _ _

____Cleo hadn't let him forget his mistake for a grand total of half a year._ _ _ _

____Mumbo had refused to stand near the front of a crowd ever since._ _ _ _

____Paying more attention to the front of the crowd, Mumbo could see Xisuma approaching, a rather petite figure trailing behind him. The wheat gold hair of the figure bounced as the figure walked closer, Mumbo able to make out a spring in the unfamiliar persons step._ _ _ _

____He could have sworn he could recognise the unfamiliar person, though he wasn't sure where he knew them from._ _ _ _

____Oh well. Mumbo would figure it out eventually, wouldn't he?_ _ _ _

____"Everyone? May I call for your attention?" Xisuma called for everyone, Mumbo snapping to attention. He stared at where Xisuma was standing on a hastily built platform of wooden stabs, raising Xisuma so he was ever so slightly taller than the rest of the crowd; including Mumbo._ _ _ _

____"After a rather interesting encounter, which will not be disclosed, I've decided to invite a new player to HermitCraft. Everyone, please give a very warm welcome to Grian!" Xisuma guestured to the figure who'd stepped up onto the platform, the man in question just looking around nervously._ _ _ _

____Mumbo may be oblivious, but even he could tell that Grian was intimidated, probably by the large crowd and _oh my word, Mumbo knew exactly who Grian was. _____ _ _

______They'd been friends throughout childhood until Grian's parents had decided to leave the server that the pair had been raised on. Something like that at least. Mumbo wasn't too sure on it. Either way, he'd missed Grian since the day that grian had left, and he'd not exactly _forgotten _Grian. He'd just... let Grian's existence slip his mind for a bit.___ _ _ _ _ _

________Mumbo was jolted from his thoughts when Iskall jabbed him in the side, making Mumbo jump. He could see Grian nervously looking at him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________And everyone else too, certain Hermits (like Doc) being a bit more annoyed at Mumbo than the rest. He offered a guilty smile to Xisuma, blinking in confusion._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Could you, ah, repeat that for me?" He asked, and Xisuma grinned._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"What we were trying to ask, was if you'd be able to house Grian until he can establish a base? It'd be cruel to make him start completely from scratch since he joined late, and we're not cruel people." Xisuma explained, voice full of joy. Mumbo understood immediately (although he wasn't exactly sure why he in particular was to house Grian) and he offered a nod._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Sounds good to me!" He grinned._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Mumbo could hear Iskall snicker from beside him, the Brit deciding to ignore it for now. He did have more responsibilities now, after all._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Not that Mumbo trusted himself with those responsibilities. Mumbo was one of the more forgetful of the server, and he didn't think he'd be able to handle himself and Grian. Not that he was against housing Grian! He really looked forwards to catching up with his friend, and finding out what Grian had been through since Mumbo had last seen him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Once again, Mumbo forced himself to focus on his surroundings and he saw the other Hermits start to disband. Grian was still standing awkwardly on the platform, although Xisuma seemed to be giving Grian a mini pep talk of some sort. Glancing at Iskall, Mumbo could see his friend shrug. Stress appeared to have said something to Iskall, although Mumbo hadn't been able to catch what Stress had said._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"So, Mumbo, would you like us to hang around here for you? I'd like to meet this new Hermit, though he looks a bit jumpy." Iskall asked, forcing Mumbo to do a very dangerous hobby; the art of thinking about something over jumping to a choice._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Mumbo had always known Grian to be chaotic and fun loving. When Mumbo and Grian would hang out together, they'd always get into a lot of mischief and Mumbo would often get scolded for letting Grian be a bad influence on him. The Grian that Mumbo knew wouldn't have minded, and would have loved to meet new people, especially since Grian was going to be joining them after all._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________On the other hand, Mumbo could see that Grian looked somewhere between nervous and downright terrified. He seemed jumpy and had flinched when Xisuma had jumped from the platform. Had something bad happened to Grian while he'd been away from Mumbo's side?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Unsure of what to do, Mumbo decided to see how Grain was, and he nodded his affirmation to let Iskall and Stress know that they could stay to meet Grian. He wasn't sure if it was a good choice, but it was a choice nonetheless and Mumbo didn't have the heart to make Iskall and Stress leave. Not when they seemed to excited about a new Hermit joining the server._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Approaching the platform, Mumbo could see Grian's eyes widen slightly, a grin slowly spreading across Grian's face._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Mumbo!" Grian launched himself at Mumbo which caught the moustached man by surprise. Grian had wrapped his arms around Mumbo's middle and Mumbo couldn't help but grin back and hug Grian. Grian had midded Mumbo from what he could tell, just as Mumbo had missed Grian._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________When Grian finally released Mumbo, the taller of the pair chuckled. "How've you been going, mate?" Mumbo asked, watching Grian._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"I've been doing fine! Not as great as I'd like too, but I'm doing much better now I'm here." Grian told Mumbo._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Something felt off though. Mumbo wasn't the most observant, but Grian's words sounded off._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Almost like he was lying to Mumbo._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Grian wouldn't do that to his old friend, right?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Mumbo hoped not at least._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Are you gonna introduce me to your friends here?" Grian asked, snapping Mumbo out of his thoughts._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Oh yeah! This is Iskall, one of my best friends, and that's Stress, one of his best friends." Mumbo gestured to each of the Hermits as he referred to them, Iskall mock bowing while Stress gave a little twirl._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Grian, is it? How do you know our friend here?" Iskall asked. Mumbo could see Grian grin, the shortest of the four staring up at Iskall._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"Mumbo's one of my best friends! One of my only friends, in fact." Grian started blathering on to Iskall, and Mumbo should have felt like everything was okay, but he couldn't._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________No matter how hard he tried, something seemed off about the atmosphere and about Grian._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________And Mumbo hadn't a clue about why._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	3. In which Iskall does nothing helpful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iskall's trying their best, and honestly, we stan. 
> 
> Too bad their best may not be enough.

Iskall had to admit, they'd grown fond of Grian.

The small gremlin was very excitable and mischievous and would talk off the ear of anyone and everyone who'd listen to him talk. Iskall knew that Stress, Cleo, Joe and Ren (amongst many more) had been on the receiving end of Grian's talks, which had more recently been about his plans for a base. From what Iskall had heard, it was supposed to be some giant tower esq thing, though Iskall wasn't exactly sure.

According to Mumbo, Grian had been acting really off when he'd first arrived. Iskall could remember that Mumbo had pointed out Grian's quietness and apparant shyness a couple days after Grian had arrived. Mumbo said that Grian was back to how he'd been back from when Mumbo and Grian had seen each other daily, though Iskall could see that Mumbo thought something was wrong.

Mumbo, being the absolute spoon that he was, had a tendency to give away his emotions through his expressions.

Iskall and the other Hermits had no plans on telling Mumbo about this.

Either way, Iskall felt somewhat impressed by Grian. The red sweater wearing Hermit had enough energy to power a large city, even when Grian had been running on an hours sleep for a week straight. Grian couldn't sit still from what Iskall had seen, Iskall very much aware that Mumbo had received many visits from the other hermits telling Mumbo to confine Grian to a small room until Grian ran out of energy.

Iskall shook their head slightly as they thought over Grian's impact on the server, starting to focus on the path they were following. Stress had said that she wanted to catch up with Iskall, and they'd been happy to oblige. They were looking for her base to see her and, as the Brits called it, maybe go out for 'afternoon tea' with her.

On their way, trying to find Stress' base (which they'd later learn was close to his base, and not at all in the direction they'd been going), Iskall slowed down, spotting Xisuma. The admin of the HermitCraft server was leaning against a tree. Iskall could see that Xisuma's eyes were scrunched up slightly behind his visor, a hand placed against Xisuma's head.

Xisuma seemed to be shaking slightly, the admin letting out a choked cough.

"Are you alright, 'suma?" Iskall spoke up, their voice soft. Xisuma let out a groan, stumbling back into the tree.

"Iskall, I, thank god you're here." Xisuma said, looking up at Iskall with a fearful, pained look in his eyes. "Everything, it's just, oh god everything hurts and everything feels so wrong and I don't know what's happening." Xisuma placed both his hands on his head again, his eyes closing behind the visor.

Scrambling through their inventory, Iskall fished out a slightly off coloured regen potion (it looked almost black?) and uncorked the bottle, offering it to Xisuma. The admin gave Iskall a grateful look and swallowed the off coloured potion without a second thought. Iskall felt somewhat relieved since maybe Xisuma would be doing a bit better?

Unfortunately for Iskall and Xisuma, the potion seemed to do nothing. If anything, it looked to Iskall that Xisuma's pain had doubled, Xisuma letting out a gasp as he stumbled into Iskall.

Dropping their sword, Iskall was quick to hold onto Xisuma, not wanting to let the admin fall to the ground and get even more hurt.

"'Suma?" Iskall said Xisuma's name quietly, the Swede letting their back lean against a tree to help support Xisuma's weight and their own a bit better now. "Should I call for someone on the communicator?" They asked.

Xisuma nodded. "Ask for Doc, or Stress." Xisuma said, his voice slightly raspy. Iskall nodded, and after helping Xisuma lean agaimst a tree and sit on the ground, Iskall went through their inventory and found the communicator. They typed in a message to the main group chat before they glanced at Xisuma again, the admin still in pain.

Iskall85: doc? stress? send help. x & i are just out of the shopping district. hes hurt

Stress and Doc seemed to get the message at the same time, both sending replies in. Cleo was quick to reply as well, probably confused.

Stressmonster101: i'll be right there!   
docm77: what happened to him?   
ZombieCleo: ?

Iskall was tempted to explain what they'd stumbled across to Doc, though Iskall had none of the facts and Xisuma probably wouldn't approve to Iskall telling absolutely everyone on the server about... about whatever this was.

Stress flew into the area using her elytra, Iskall able to see her inventory full of bottle esq shapes and apples. She slung the inventory from her arm and onto the ground before pushing past Iskall to reach Xisuma's side.

"Where does it hurt?" Iskall could barely hear Stress' words to Xisuma, though they could tell that she was concerned. Xisuma's words back to her were even quieter so Iskall couldn't pick up on what he'd said.

Doc appeared soon after, the half cyborg looking at Xisuma and Stress with a concerned expression. "What did you do to him, Iskall?" Doc asked, facing Iskall.

"I didn't do anything!" Iskall was quick to defend themself. "I was trying to find Stress' place when I saw 'suma on the side of the path. He looked hurt and I didn't know what to do, so I went over to him." Iskall explained.

"I'm not sure why, or how he's hurt, but a regen potion made his condition worse when I gave it to him." Iskall failed to mention that the potion wasn't the right colour. Or that they didn't know where they had gotten it and how it had been in their inventory.

Doc didn't think to ask either, instead turning away from Iskall. "We need to help Xisuma. It's getting dark, so I need you to protect us from mobs. Get Ren or Mumbo over here if you need help with it." Doc told Iskall before he kneeled down by Xisuma's side.

The admin wasn't looking too great, and Iskall was worried.

Xisuma had never had something happen to him like that. Not since Iskall had been invited to become a Hermit.

And honestly? Iskall felt absolutely terrified.


	4. Xisuma does a bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haha plot go brrr

Stress honestly felt really worried.

Xisuma hadn't been okay the other day, and nothing she nor Doc could do would fix it. Whatever it was had subsided on its own eventually, but Stress was scared that it would come back.

Whatever it was, it had left Xisuma weakened as well. Doc had agreed to help her confine their leader to his base, although Stress doubted that the weird condition Xisuma had gone through yesterday would stop doing anything because of house arrest. Stress was holding onto that one little bit of hope that it would leave Xisuma alone though.

She couldn't help herself. She desperately wanted him to be okay.

Grian had seemed pretty worried too, when Cleo and False had talked Stress into checking up on Mumbo and Grian for them.

She wasn't sure as to why Grian was worried though. Sure, Xisuma was one of Grian's friends (like everyone else on the server was) but the amount of worry Grian was expressing for Xisuma was closer to someone fretting over a married partner who's late home. As far as Stress (and everyone else) was aware, Grian and Xisuma were not a married couple.

Cleo apparantly thought otherwise, the zombie wiggling her eyebrows when Stress had shared her thoughts on the situation, the three girls meeting up for their fornightly 'girls night'.

But honestly? Who knew at this point?

Since Grian had landed in the server after some unspecified event of his, things had been off. Amongst the good things (a giant game of tag, a masked vigilante named Poultry Man who Grian swore wasn't him, the prank levels and chicken populations had risen, everything), there were also a few bad things that Stress couldn't help but feel upset with whenever she thought of them.

There was this really thick tension in the air that reached everywhere, from Mumbo's hole in the ground to the tops of Grian's in construction tower. Stress could constantly feel eyes on her, and things would move behind her back. Things would be sitting on a counter, and the moment Stress turned around, they would have moved.

Something was awfully wrong, and Stress hated.

Stress also hated having to leave False and Cleo on their own after Xisuma sent her a private message via the communicator.

Xisuma: hey stress, could you come to mine? my head feels funny and i think im going to have another episode

That didn't sound good.

When Stress explained everything to False and Cleo, they seemed to understand.

"Hey, it's alright." Cleo said, smiling. "Just make sure you're back before midnight." Cleo winked, making all three of the girls burst into laughter.

"I'll try!" Stress said, before standing up. She picked up her inventory, made sure she had her communicator, and left False's base. 

\---

Stress was quick to get to Xisuma, shooting him a message to tell him she was there. Strangely enough, he didn't respond, although Stress doubted that there was much behind that. Why would Xisuma bother to message her when she was at his base?

She politely dropped her healing-supply full inventory by the door, her communicator in her pocket, before she walked into his base. 

\---

Her first thoughts were that it was dark and cold.

It wasn't just a normal cold either. It was a seep-into-your-bones type of cold, that made Stress shiver.

Stress felt cold, and she was supposed to be the self proclaimed Ice Queen!

The darkness was almost suffocating too. It was thick and Stress could barely see her hands in front of her face, the Hermit trying to find Xisuma's room by feeling along the walls and her prior knowledge of his base.

She shivered once more, before grinning triumphantly. There was a doorway, and it looked almost promising!

When she entered, it was certainly brighter. The darkness wasn't as thick or heavy, and Stress could actually see her hands in front of her face for once. She paused, looking around to try and adjust herself to the darkness.

The cold was just as bone chilling as it was in the rest of the base, but Stress had to feel glad for the lesser amount of darkness here.

Surely nothing bad was happening here, right?

Stress was very wrong. 

Xisuma was sitting on his bed, Stress able to see him through the darkness. He was shivering, and he looked absolutely terrified.

Stress could see a dark, formless shape on the bed in front of him, the two seemingly conversing.

Then the formless blog vanished and Xisuma started screaming and Stress just _panicked _. She wanted to go and get her inventory, but it was somewhere behind the blinding darkness in the rest of Xisuma's base.__

__The issue was that Xisuma was hurt and something was wrong and then it stopped._ _

__Xisuma went still._ _

__According to the communicator, Xisuma hadn't died, and Stress could see him in front of her, but the atmosphere had shifted._ _

__It seemed colder than before, if possible, and when Xisuma stood and got out of bed stiffly, he seemed almost robotic._ _

__Not normal, to say the least._ _

__"Xisuma?" Stress called his name, although he didn't respond. he walked closer to her, and Stress felt scared, fear building up._ _

__"StressMonster. I've been waiting for you." Xisuma said, except it wasn't Xisuma._ _

__

__This wasn't her friend._ _

__

__"What did you do to Xisuma?" She asked, and the thing wearing her friend's skin just laughed._ _

__He took off his helmet and Stress stared into Xisuma's eyes._ _

__The blue iris was glowing brighter in the dark, and the whites of Xisuma's eyes had gone a rich shade of black that scared Stress._ _

__His grin was unnatural and Stress was sure that Xisuma's teeth had gotten sharper in the few seconds they'd been communicating._ _

__Then Not Xisuma held onto her wrist and pulled her close._ _

__"You won't feel a thing. I promise."_ _

__The last thing she remembered was a pain in the back of her head, and the clatter of her communicator hitting the floor._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clarrification on the idea of inventories! The concept of inventories here, and through the rest of Hunted, is that they're bags - and as you would a bag, it's considered respectful to leave your inventory and weapons by the door when you visit someone else. That's how the game of hot potato in the canon season 6 works: you have to sneak the potato into their bag :)


	5. And then there was one

False was stressed about Stress. (Pun intended)

The two girls had reasonably been worried for Stress when Stress hadn't come back to False's after she'd gone to help Xisuma, which was reasonable. The server admin was sick with something by the looks of it, and False respected Strerss and Doc's dedication to helping Xisuma get better.

What had made Cleo and False worry was when Stress hadn't appeared, nor spoken to them afterwards. According to the others, Stress hadn't been seen since. Ren and Jevin had either vanished or isolated themselves from the other hermits as well, which hadn't eased False's worry.

Had something happened to Stress? To Jevin? To Ren?

False hoped not.

Back on track.

False had been flying around with Cleo, the two trying to scout out where their missing friends could have been. Ren's base was empty as was Jevins. Stress' base had been untouched since the night Stress had gone missing on, and none of the three locations held any sort of clues.

When False had (probably rudely) barged into Xisuma's living quarters and asked him about Stress, Xisuma had reported that Stress had never been there.

He also said that he'd never called for Stress' help, and had been asleep for most of the night, which confused the hell out of False because Stress had told them that she needed to help Xisuma since he'd called for her. Xisuma had even brought up the logs, the green hologram projecting from his comunicator, proving his point.

Was Stress up to something bad?

False hoped not.

She gave Xisuma a smile, apologised, and left his space, feeling slightly guilty. She needed to find her friends though, and she was willing to inspect every possible space to find any clues. 

\---

It was False's meeting up with Cleo to regather themselves that False watched Cleo get taken.

She could have stopped it, but when Xisuma had ambushed the two girls and stabbed a tipped arrow of some kind in the side of Cleo's neck, a threatening look is his eyes that False now realised were discoloured and glowing, False had been to stunned to do anything.

Her sword had hung uselessly in her limp hand, and her feet had felt too heavy to move properly. Cleo's eyes had ben filled with fear and Cleo looked like she'd been screaming but Xisuma had his hand over Cleo's mouth and False had stupidly watched as the tipped arrow took effect.

Cleo had fallen unconscious, and Xisuma had simply grinned at False before he threw a potion at False, hotting her im the chest. It burned at her skin and False had stumbled back, shrieking in pain. Poison, she realised, the potion continuing to burn at her skin.

When the potion stopped working, False realised that Xisuma was gone.

And he'd taken Cleo with him.

—-

False hadn't wanted to believe that Xisuma had kidnapped Cleo.

Why would she? Xisuma was the trusted admin of the server. He was supposed to be their friend, and make sure their world ran smoothly.

He wasn't supposed to kidnap one of False's friends!

What could False really do though? There wasn't much that she could do. Especially since the admin was the bad guy here, and he had powers that not even False and her weaponry could fight against. Not now, not ever, really.

What was even worse, False realised, is that she couldn't tell anyone. Xisuma would find out eventually, and then he'd probably ban False. False was arguably the strongest on the server and the best pvper, so if she was foced out of HermitCraft, who'd be able to protect her friends from Xisuma?

False needed to bide her time and wait.

She needed to protect everyone from Xisuma, after all.


	6. The exposition chapter

Grian had honestly been enjoying himself on the server of HermitCraft.

Everyone was friendly, he'd been able to reconcile with (and prank) Mumbo, he'd gotten alomg eith snd bonded with Xisuma and Stress and Iskall and all the other hermits, things had been going good.

Grian had been safe here too!! It hadn't made a single appearance, and things had been running smoothly.

Then whatever the thing with Xisuma happened, and Grian had felt terrified.

According to Iskall, Stress had told them that Xisuma had explained his thing as sudden head pains and chest pains, which made his mind go foggy and his chest hurt. Those symptoms happened to be the exact same symptoms Grian himself had shown when it had found him on Evo.

When it had made him ruin Evo.

If Xisuma was showing symptoms, then it was likely that Xisuma might have been targeted over Grian this time. He supposed it was a good idea on its part, Xisuma being an admin and all, but Grian would much rather himself get targeted and possessed over Xisuma. Grian knew how to fight it's control off after all, especially with the conflicting views of his own and its views.

Grian loved to have fun and cause friendly chaos after all. It advocated for control and force and power and for it all to be organised.

If you had opposing ideas to it, then you had a fighting chance at getting it to not possess you.

Grian looked to the sky and let out a sigh, breaking himself from his concerns over Xisuma. The hole through his tower showed his phantoms were starting to spawn, the night falling. His communicator was buzzing like crazy, but Grian didn't have the energy to check it.

He needed sleep, and he needed to take Mumbo's advice and lighten up a bit.

How could he with Xisuma in danger though?

—-

Grian burst awake to an all too familiar scream.

Unsurprisingly, it was his own.

Xisuma stood at the end of Grian's bed, towering over the Hermit. Xisuma wasn't wearing his helmet (unusual, from what Grian could tell), his brown hair wild and flying about. Xisuma's eyes were wrong and Grian felt sick to his stomach when he recognised the odd colouration and glowing pupils that Taurtis had described Grian as having had when Grian was under the thing's control in Evo.

That was before Grian had murdered Taurtis with his own bare hands, making Grian flee before he attempted to defeat the ender dragon.

The four missing Hermits who everyone had been worried about were blocking off Grian's escape into the rest of his base, preventing the newest Hermit from taking off and flying to Mumbo's base for help. Each of them had a vague, vacant look to their eyes that were now clouded over, their postures stiff and unnatural.

Grian subconsciously wrapped his feathered wings around his body, staring up into Xisuma's eyes, absolutely terrified.

"What have you done to him?" Grian decided to ask, his voice shaking as he spoke. Xisuma - or the thimg wearing Xisuma's body - just laughed, the laugh sounding all wrong and violent and not good.

"Exactly what I did to you, Grian." Not Xisuma grinned. "Aren't you glad I didn't do it to you again?"

Grian had to admit, he was glad he didn't have it whispering into his ears again about power and control, but he didn't like that Xisuma was being targeted as well. Xisuma had done nothing to deserve this, and Grian wanted Xisuma to be left out of this.

Before Grian could speak again, Not Xisuma grinned again. "Why don't I give your little friend a chance to speak with you? You probably have questions."

A dark black foggy smokey sort of material then started to surround Xisuma, the mist emerging from Xisuma's chest. It quickly drifted away from Xisuma, forming the all too familiar, almost formless oversized wolf with the glowing white eyes that had haunted Grian since the day that thing had latched onto his weakness.

It grinned at Grian as Grian scrambled out of bed, catching Xisuma before the admin could fall to the ground in his confusion. Xisuma's eyes, now normal, were full of fear and Grian absolutely hated this.

"Grian?" Grian turned his focus from the grinning thing to Xisuma, the HermitCraft admin looking up at Grian.

"Xisuma, I'm so glad it's you..." Grian trailed off, not able to say much else. He didn't know what to say or what to do. Letting Xisuma regain his posture and composure, Grian gave Xisuma a second before Grian threw himself at Xisuma, wrapping both wings and arms around his friend.

He could feel tears welling up in his eyes and he hated it.

He hated it so much.

Neither Xisuma nor Grian had a chance to say anything before it's voice interrupted them.

"Sorry to break up the touching reunion, but we have buisness to deal with." Grian was forced to let Xisuma go, the Admin turning pale as Xisuma spotted the thing.

Except the thing was no longer alone. A parrot made of the same materials but a red colour was sitting on the thing's back, a wide grin on it's face. The parrot's white eyes were glowing, and Grian could swear the parrot was staring at him in particular.

"Who's your friend, A?" Xisuma asked almost deadpan, Grian able to detect nervousness.

"This is Heidi." The thing grinned. "She's going to be a perfect fit for you, Grian. Maybe you'll finally learn to cooperate."

Grian was just dumbfounded. Not by the parrot, but by the parrot's name.

Heidi?

Did that mean that the oversized shadow wolf had a name too?

"Wait, wait, wait. Heidi? What next, is your name going to be Thomas?" Grian asked, looking between Xisuma, Heidi the parrot and the wolf in comfusion.

The thing growled. "My name is Rowan, and that is what you will address me as when I'm on control of your little friend here." Rowan ordered, and Grian felt fear start to build up in his chest. 

As Xisuma started to respond, Heidi landed on Grian's shoulder and Grian couldn't exactly hear Xisuma anymore.

Heidi's raspy voice whispered into Grian's ears, telling him that she could help him blow everything up. She could help him tear buildings down to the ground, and wouldn't Grian like that? Wouldn't Grian like to watch the fun explosions, and wouldn't Grian like to watch the sparks of the fuse?

Rowan and Xisuma's argument just tuned into the back of Grian's mind, little more than a distant buzz as Heidi whispered into Grian's ears, offering him so many different ideas and reasons for him to let her use his body for just a little bit, to help start the fun and then Grian was snapped from Heidi's whispers, Xisuma staring at Grian with fear in his eyes.

"Grian?" Grian looked at Xisuma with confusion in his eyes and Xisuma seemed relieved, wrapping Grian into a hug.

"I was worried. You looked so far gone, and I got scared that she'd gotten you." Xisuma whispered, and guilt hit Grian like a brick.

Rowan was right. Heidi appealed to Grian's interests for fun and chaos more than Rowan had, and Grian had been this close to snapping upon his first meeting with Heidi.

That couldn't be good.

A new voice then joined the group, purring and smooth. "Did I miss anything?"

Grian watched a cat jump down from the top of a chest, the cat similarly oversized like Rowan. The cat, clearly female, was a rich blue colour, her white eyes shining at Grian and Xisuma.

She took a few footsteps over to an almost hypnotised Stress, the misty cat weaving herself aroumd Stress's legs.

Turning to Rowan, Grian watched the wolf grin at him, the eyes of Heidi and the cat bearing into him.

"Now, let's get this 'party' started."


	7. Xisuma trusts too much. Poor dude

When Rowan turned to fog again and started to surround Xisuma again, Xisuma felt calm for once.

After the cat (named Kady) had introduced herself and decided she wanted to pester Stress (who was still in the hypnotised state Xisuma had put her in when Rowan was in control), Rowan had threatened Xisuma and Grian had jumped to Xisuma's defence.

Heidi had bitten Grian and he argued with her, before Xisuma had asked what was going to happen to Stress and Cleo and Ren and Jevin. Rowan said that he had plans, but Xisuma didn't like that.

So they made an agreement. Xisuma would be more compliant for Rowan, but the four Hermits who had been missing were going to be freed and go back to normal. Grian would also keep himself for at least another few months.

A sharp pain then hit Xisuma and he let out a whimper, the faint feeling of Grian placing a comforting hand on his arm somewhat soothing Xisuma.

Then everything went black.

\---

When Xisuma was able to see again, he could feel the overwhelming presence of Rowan in his head. His limbs were moving and he could hear himself speak, except what he heard Rowan make himself say was absolutely awful and not what Xisuma had agreed too.

"Let Ren and Jevin go." Xisuma heard Rowan say using his voice, Kady purring in response.

"Of course." She said, before Jevin and Ren walked off in their weird, stiff, controlled form.

"Kady, you can take that one. Make use of her. The zombie one we'll keep as our own little toy." Rowan explained when Kady returned.

Xisuma could see that Grian was terrified, the newest Hermit pressed up against a wall. Heidi still sat on his shoulder, the foggy bird staring at Xisuma.

Well, Rowan.

"Heidi. Stay with Grian. If he tries to alert anyone of what's happening, possess him. If he does something that you deem goes against our plans, possess him. You get the idea." Rowan said. Heidi let out a few chitters, content, while Grian just stared at Xisuma/Rowan, a terrified look on Grian's face.

And Xisuma absolutely hated it.

Rowan had gone back on his promise, Grian was in trouble, Cleo was being used and it looked like Stress was going to be possessed by Kady, similarly to how Heidi intended on possessing Grian and how Rowan was currently in control of Xisuma.

At least Jevin and Ren were safe, right?

\---

Xisuma had half a mind to tell Rowan off.

That meant he had full intentions to tell Rowan off. He only had control over half his brain and none of his body after all.

Puns aside, Xisuma was really upset. He'd been fooled into handing himself over to the thing that had plagued him through seasons 2, 3 and 4 of HermitCraft, and he'd put his friends in danger.

What a great leader Xisuma was.

\---

The next time Xisuma saw Grian or Stress or Cleo was about a week later. Grian's infinity room had been volunteered by Heidi for their little meeting, despite Grian's protests, and Xisuma hated it.

Stress had been released from Kady's grasp, the blue cat having taken over Stress as soon as Rowan had released Stress from her controlled state. Stress looked terrified as she sat on the floor of the infinity room, Kady weaving her away around the self proclaimed Ice Queen.

Grian was sitting in his chair, Heidi comfortably nestled in on his shoulder, while Xisuma sat where Grian said Mumbo usually sat during Architect Meetings, Rowan sitting right in front of Xisuma.

Cleo stood in one corner, a glazed, blank look on her face, and Xisuma hated this all.

He hated seeing Cleo's free will stripped away. He hated seeing Grian scared of a room in his own base, and Stress scared of Xisuma.

Xisuma hated seeing Rowan control him, and bend Xisuma.

He hated it so much.

Rowan started the supposed meeting, guesturing to Kady and Heidi. "We have matters to discuss." The misty dog had growled. "The hosts can entertain thmselves while we figure everything out."

Xisuma had felt even worse when Rowan refered to Grian and Stress and Xisuma as hosts. That somehow made this all a lot worse.

Grian seemed outraged.

"You can't call us hosts! That's not all we are, Rowan." Grian had argued, his voice raised. Project A - no, Rowan (Xisuma needed to stop calling that thing Project A now. It had a name after all) almost frowned.

"Heidi, you have my full permission to take him as soon as this meeting ends." Rowan said, grian glaring at Rowan.

"You can't make me. I've fought against you once before, I'll fight against you again." Grian said, almost growling.

"But you aren't fighting him this time." Heidi suddenly spoke up, her usually raspy voice now smooth as silk. Xisuma watched as Grian tensed up, Heidi grinning.

"You've almost succumbed to me once, Grian. You'll fall to me easily."

Grian didn't respond, and Xisuma couldn't blame him. Xisuma wouldn't have been able to repond if Heidi had been talking at him either.

Glancing over at Stress, Xisuma could see that she was still terrified, looking between Grian and the things as they went back and forth.

Xisuma just wanted this to be done with.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), Rowan and Kady and Heidi were able to finish their meeting quickly as Stress and Grian and Xisuma migrated over to Cleo. Cleo may not have really been with them, since she was under Rowan's control via some sort of spell, but Xisuma felt vaguely comforted by her presense and the knowledge that she'd never need to have one of the things in her head.

And Xisuma wanted it to stay that way for Cleo.

Having Rowan in Xisuma's head was awful, and he hated that Grian and Stress suffered the same thing.

At least the others were safe for now though, right?

Right?


	8. Cleo

No thoughts, Head empty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to my readers on Wattpad, this is the best chapter.


	9. Mumbo talks to Grian. It doesn't go well.

Grian was acting off.

Mumbo was very aware of at least that much. After all, Grian still tended to spend most nights at Mumbo's base, presumably preferring the company of Mumbo over being alone in Grian's giant tower.

Grian had taken to doing the opposite. Mumbo couldn't actually remember the last time he'd seen his old friend, if he were completely honest.

From what he'd heard from other Hermits however, Grian looked normal. he was acting normal, if not slightly more aggressive and destructive. When Doc had spoken to Mumbo earlier that week, he'd been told that on more than one occasion, Grian had blocks of TNT on his hands. Doc had told Mumbo that Grian had just been staring at the explosives in awe, and hadn't even looked up at Doc until the creeper hybrid had made his presence known.

That wasn't normal!

Not for Grian.

It wasn't just Grian acting up either. According to Iskall, everything about Stress just felt off. Iskall had told Mumbo that Stress seemed colder, and more observant. Apparantly, Stress had blatantly lied to Iskall at least twice in the two weeks that had passed since Jevin and Ren and Stress had reappeared after their dissapearences, which wasn't normal.

Jevin said that Xisuma wasn't acting right.

Jevin and Ren and Stress had been resting at Xisuma's base while he tried to help them remember what had happened while they were gone. Stress had left pretty early on, Ren leaving about a week and a half after he was found, but Jevin had been adamant about trying to help from what Mumbo had heard.

Jevin had said that Xisuma was a lot more controlling. Xisuma had barely let Jevin out of his sight, and Jevin always had to give Xisuma a reason to why he was doing whatever he was doing.

It had been getting to the point where Jevin was scared of Xisuma, and was consantly trying to hide things from Xisuma.

Jevin had admitted to Mumbo that if he had remembered anything about his disappearance, he would have neglected to tell Xisuma about it because of their friend's pushiness.

Xisuma was a good admin and leader to the group.

This wasn't normal.

Cleo still being missing didn't help either, if Mumbo were completely honest.

Mumbo let out a sigh, standing up. he dusted the redstone dust off his hands and onto his jacket out of habit, his project abandoned, as he decided he wanted to go and talk to Grian.

Mumbo needed to figure out what was wrong with his friends, for everyone's sake. If they could figure out what was wrong, they could help Stress and Grian and Xisuma, and find Cleo.

Stuffing his chestplate into his inventory, Mumbo donned his beetle winged elytra, and took off. He wanted to confront Grian, and if that didn't work, he'd plan something out with Iskall and maybe Doc or False.

Something like that at least.

\---

Mumbo drifted through Grian's tower, spoothly landing on the ground floor. He looked around in the dim light, trying to spot his friend.

The tower honestly looked half abandoned, if Mumbo were completely honest. Cobwebs littered the corners where the walls and ceiling met. There were a few mobs spawned around, and a lot of the torches had been burnt out.

After Mumbo dealt with the mob problem and placed a few more torches around, he let his eyes adjust to the low light levels, Mumbo decided to try the other floors.

All of them were empty, except for the aviary area with Grian's parrots.

Well, Ari, the other parrots, and Grian.

Mumbo rocketed himself into te aivary area and spotted Grian immediately, the naturally winged Hermit sitting there, Ari sitting on his shoulder. The two were almost talking to each other, Ari chirping at Grian while he murmured soothing words to the parrot.

"Grian, I'm sorry to interupt, but we need to talk." Mumbo finally said after just staring at Grian and Ari for a few minutes.

Grian looked up, and Mumbo finally caught a look at Grian's eyes for the first time in a while.

They were unnaturally coloured, the eye whites a black. Grian's pupils were glowing, and Mumbo's heart sunk into his stomach.

That wasn't normal.

That wasn't Grian.

A wide grin spread across the face of whatever that thing was, and Mumbo panicked. He jumped off the edge of the hole through the tower and let the wind catch under the beetle wings of his elytra, Mumbo using his rockets and elytra to speed away from the thing in Grian's skin.

He habitually ended up in front of Iskall's base, Mumbo frantically breaking into Iskall's base.

Iskall would have to understand.

Mumbo started to look for Iskall, luckily finding the Swede.

Strangely enough, Doc and False and Jevin were there with Iskall.

"Mumbo?"

When False spoke Mumbo's name, he visibly relaxed, his shoulders slumped over.

"Grian, he, he..." Mumbo sat down with them on a hastily built chair, trying to explain.

He was all choked up, and he didn't know what was happening, and Mumbo honestly felt so overwhelmed by everything.

"Was it like Stress?" Iskall asked, and Mumbo looked up in confusion.

What had happened with Stress?

"Iskall and I tried to confront her about her telling lies to Iskall and I. She denied our claims and then threatened us." False briefly explained.

Mumbo shook his head in response.

"I haven't seen Grian in ages, and I'd heard that he was acting up. I flew to Grian via my elytra and I found him in the aviary thing with Ari. His eyes were glowing and they weren't the right colour, and he grinned at me and I ran. That's not Grian, I know it." Mumbo explained.

He could barely tell that he was crying until False had walked up to him and offered him a few bits of soft paper to wipe his face with, Mumbo offering her a small smile as she sat back down.

Jevin was the first to get back to buisness. "If Grian wasn't Grian, then we might have something similar with Stress and Xisuma." He said. Mumbo honestly agreed. All three of them had been acting up, and that thing clearly wasn't Grian.

False seemed to have panicked when Xisuma's name was mentioned. She'd paled, and Mumbo could see her shaking.

"False?"

"I need to go." False had muttered, standing up rather abruptly.

"False!" Doc stood up too, Mumbo hot on their heels.

False started to run, Mumbo and Doc trying to follow her.

This wasn't right.

What about the mention of Xisuma had caused this reaction?

Neither Doc or Mumbo were able to catch up to False, returning to Iskall and Jevin empty handed.

"Well, that can't be good." Iskall said, voicing everyone's opinion.

Mumbo just sighed, nodding.

This was all wrong. He knew it.

And there wasn't a thing he could do to change it.


	10. Blackmail can be fun, right?

When False had heard mention of Xisuma, she ran.

It wasn't a logical or normal reaction to hearing his name, but, well, she just couldn't explain anything to them.

Not when Xisuma knew that she knew that something was wrong with hims and that he had Cleo.

False's best chance at being able to help her friends and not get herself booted from HermitCraft for spilling Xisuma's secret was to not say anything about the admin at all, really. She'd thought it out.

Kinda.

Her issue was that even if Mumbo was right, and Grian wasn't actually Grian, Stress wasn't Stress and Xisuma wasn't Xisuma, whatever was in Xisuma's place had Xisuma's communicator.

You know, the small, pocket sized device that controlled who was banned from the server?

Yeah.

False wasn't safe.

Landing at and entering her base, False shed her elytra from her back, putting her armour on an armour stand to free some space up from her inventory. Her sword stayed by her side as she moved throughout her base, emptying out her inventory.

The moment that False let down her guard, she found herself pinned to a wall, a hand pressing into her back. She was disarmed easily as her attacker pulled her sword from its holder on False's waist, the sword thrown to the ground nearby. False could hear the clatter of the diamond blade hitting the floor, the attacker now using both hands to push False to the wall.

"Who's there?" She asked, her teeth gritted together.

False's attacker laughed, and her heart sank into her chest.

"You know me. Well, you know my host." Xisuma's voice was rough and cold and False hated it, the HermitCraft admin uncharacteristically rough and cruel.

"Let me go." False said, her voice as calm as she could make it. "If you want to talk to me, then we'll talk. Just let me go."

Xisuma laughed. "If you pull one wrong move, you know what'll happen."

The pressure of Xisuma's hands left False's back and she winced, knowing for certain that she was going to be bruised tomorrow. She turned around to face Xisuma, spotting the admin grinning. His helmet was gone, which set off all possible red flags (Xisuma never took off his helmet) for False, a smirk on his face.

His eyes were the same as they'd been when False had watched Cleo be taken, and False felt a shiver run up her spine. Something about Xisuma's eyes when they were weirdly coloured and glowing scared her.

"What do you want, Xisuma?" False asked as Xisuma's smirk turned into a full out grin.

"My name is Rowan, False, and I will be addressed by that name. Your precious Xisuma isn't here right now." Xisuma - or Rowan, the thing apparently replacing Xisuma - said, staring at False.

"Anyhow, you know my little secret. You know I have Cleo, and for that, I need to deal with you." Rowan shrugged, and False could feel a strong sense of fear building up in her chest. False had a very bad feeling about this.

"Now, I could just ban you and get you out of my way. Questions would be asked however, and lying isn't my specialty. I could always take you and use you like you're little friend Cleo, but that's not fun when I already have someone to do my bidding. So I'm going to play a fun game that Heidi introduced me to a while back." Rowan grinned at False.

"Blackmail. Well, something similar. I tell you to do things and cut people out, and you do as you're told unless you want me to hurt Cleo, or better yet, get Heidi to blow everything and everyone up. You wouldn't want that, now would you?"

Rowan stared into False's eyes, and she hated it so god damn much, but she couldn't fight against him.

She didn't want anyone to get hurt.

Rowan must have realised that, staring at False through Xisuma's eyes. "Your first job is to cut them off. The 'troublemakers'. Mumbo Jumbo, Doc, Iskall, Jevin, all of them. I don't want to hear you speaking to them."

False knew exactly what Rowan was playing at.

If she distanced herself from Mumbo and Iskall and everyone who was trying to figure out the truth, and help Grian and Stress and Xisuma and take down a thing that none of them knew anything about, then she was incapable of helping them and protecting them from Rowan.

This was a lose - lose situation for False. She either did as she was told and keep Cleo from harm, but put Mumbo and Iskall and Doc and Jevin from harm, or she could break Rowan's rules and warn the others at the expense of Cleo's safety and her own safety.

"I'll obey your rules, _Rowan _, but don't think I'll like doing it at all." False finally decided, spitting out her words.__

__Rowan grinned at her. "Just as I thought you would. Now, I'll leave you to think your choice over."_ _

__Rowan left False's base, and False had honestly never felt worse in her entire life._ _

__Nothing good was going to come out of this, False knew it._ _

__And she absolutely hated it._ _


	11. Infinity rooms galore

When Iskall had proposed that two of their little 'Rebel' group (as the others were calling it) go confront Grian (or whatever he was now), Doc had called Iskall crazy.

Jevin had agreed.

Mumbo had said that it was a good idea.

Mumbo was also a spoon however, and Doc didn't think that Mumbo should get a say in possibly life threatening missions.

Maybe Doc was being a little cruel. it was, whatever. Doc just didn't want himself getting hurt because Mumbo swayed the vote and said _yes it's a wonderful idea to do this thing that can and will get us in trouble. ___

__Unfortunately for Doc, he was outnumbered._ _

__Jevin somehow was convinced by Iskall that sending half their little group to their demise at Grian (or not Grian, according to Mumbo)'s hands, so guess where Doc was?_ _

__Yep, that's right. He was standing in front of Grian's base, Mumbo standing next to him, ready to question Grian (or not)._ _

__Doc was not happy about this in the slightest, but he and Mumbo had been dubbed the best team for the job. Mumbo because Mumbo was Grian's friend, and could bring Grian back, and Doc was arguably the strongest and most physically capable of holding down Grian if he went feral and tried to attack Mumbo or Doc._ _

__Doc hadn't exactly gotten a choice in this mission, but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to try his best. Doc may not have signed up for this mission, but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to be trying his best to help Grian._ _

__Taking a few steps into Grian's base, Mumbo trailing lose behind Doc, the creeper hybrid leading Mumbo through the base._ _

__When Mumbo had suggested it, Doc had reasonably checked Grian's aviary. Aside from Ari and the other parrots, it was empty. No sign of the winged Hermit Doc and Mumbo were looking for._ _

__None of the other floors held promise when Doc and Mumbo explored them either._ _

__He had to be somewhere around here. Doc knew that. Where else would Grian have to go?_ _

__"He might be in his infinity room." Mumbo broke the silence, and Doc perked up._ _

__That sounded promising._ _

__Doc went to follow Mumbo to the infinity room, only to feel a sharp pain in the back of his head._ _

__Doc dropped to the floor, out cold. Mumbo followed soon after._ _

__

__\---_ _

__

__Doc awoke to find that everything surrounding him was black._ _

__There was a cold, metalic taste on his tongue, a cloth roughly tied around his mouth. Doc realised with faint horror that the metalic taste was blood; probably from the cloth._ _

__His hands were seemingly tied behind his back, and his legs were secured to whatever he was tied to. Some sort of chair, by the feel of it._ _

__Nearby, Doc could hear muffled crying._ _

__Mumbo._ _

__Now working to free himself from his binds, Doc found that it was surprisingly easy to manipulate the rope tying his wrists together, though it might have been him being able to put the pressure of the rope on his robotic arm while he worked on picking at the knot with his normal hand._ _

__Doc's robotic eye flashed from behind what he presumed to be a blind fold covering his eyes, the creeper hybrid clenching his teth together as he finally managed to snap the ropes binding his wrists. He yanked the gag from his mouth and uncovered his eyes, untying his ankles with ease._ _

__The room Doc was in looked like how Mumbo had discribed the Infinity room, except it was wrong. The walls were a pitch black colour instead of the blinding whites, and while it was easy on Doc's eyes, the black walls made him feel uneasy._ _

__When Mumbo's cries stopped, Doc was yanked back to the situation at hand, determination setting in as he began to wander this weird infinity room. There had to be a hidden exit somewhere, and if Doc was lucky, he'd be able to find Mumbo and get out._ _

__If this was a variation of Grian's infamous Infinity room, then it was likely that Grian was behind this as well._ _

__Which also implied that Grian would hurt Mumbo, but that wasn't the most important thing to consider right now. Not while Mumbo was still in danger._ _

__Feeling around the walls, Doc was quick to locate an exit, and found himself in an almost identical room._ _

__The only difference was Mumbo being tied to a chair instead of Doc, the aforementioned Hermit bleeding heavily from the stomach._ _

__Grian was standing nearby, almost staring at the bloodied knife in his hands with some kind of sick fasination._ _

__Doc let out a growl, and walked forwards, shouldering Grian out of the way before he made a dash to Mumbo's side. Doc manged to unty Mumbo and tear off some of the fabric from the bottom of Doc's lab coat, using the cloth to try and stop Mumbo from bleeding so heavily._ _

__The redstoner was crying again, and whimpered whenever Doc put too much pressure on the wound and Doc hated it. He wasn't used to treating really serious wounds like this! Normally the wounded player would die pretty quickly, and respawn with no sign that the wound had even been there._ _

__Grian looked unstable though, and his eyes were just as Mumbo had described them as._ _

__You may be asking 'why didn't Doc finish the job and let Mumbo heal through respawn?'._ _

__Well, this definitely wasn't Grian, and if this wasn't Grian, then there was a chance that whateer entity had replaced grian knw the art of perma-death._ _

__If Mumbo was killed via Perma-death, that was worse than a ban. Mumbo would, as the name suggested, die permanently. He'd be erased from that point onwards._ _

__Doc didn't want to risk it._ _

__Then he was torn away from Mumbo's side, pressed into a wall by Grian (or whatever it was now) with strength that Doc didn't know Grian had._ _

__The newest Hermit (or not) grinned at Doc, and Doc felt genuinely scared for once._ _

__"Now, Doc, why don't we have a little fun?"_ _


	12. Where Mumbo gets stabbed, and Doc gets tortured

When Mumbo had woken, he'd been surrounded by pure black.

Roughly bound to some sort of chair (possibly a staircase), Mumbo couldn't see anything or move, really. He couldn't talk, some sort of clean cloth tied around his mouth, and it was obvious that he was blindfolded.

He then heard the sound of flapping wings and footsteps as the person landed, and Mumbo felt a small spike of hope.

_Grian! ___

__Mumbo's blindfold was roughly taken off him and the gag untied, Mumbo now able to see that he and Grian were in an infinity room._ _

__Except the walls were a coal black._ _

__Grian was facing away from Mumbo, the redstoner able to hear Grian giggling to himself, and Mumbo found himself uneasy._ _

__This was normal Grian, right?_ _

__Why else would Grian have untied him?_ _

__When Grian turned to face Mumbo, Mumbo let out a yelp, staring straight into Grian's eyes. They were the same as they'd been when Mumbo had tried to confront Grian a while ago, before he and Iskall and Jevin and Doc (and False, before she ran off) had formed their currently nameless group._ _

__So this was Not - Grian._ _

__Great._ _

__"You know, I thought I'd taught you to stay away from him when I chased you off." Grian said, and Mumbo's heart sank into his stomach. This felt so wrong. Grian's voice shouldn't be used in this manner. Grian was playful and, to out it simply, a gremlin who couldn't keep his hands to himself most of the time._ _

__The words Not - Grian had spoke with Grian's voice were cold, and rude, and held an air of danger to them._ _

__"Of course, you couldn't just stay in your own base. You and the creeper hybrid - Doc, was it? - just had to invade on your little friend's space again. And look; you've made me have to step in again, to get rid of you." Not - Grian started to ruffle through his inventory, and soon drew out an iron sword, though it was smaller than average._ _

__Maybe some sort of dagger, Mumbo thought. It looked like it only had one iron ingot worth of blade on it._ _

__Grian took a few steps forwards and used the dagger thing to cut the ropes binding Mumbo, although Mumbo couldn't leave the chair anyways. Not - Grian was using all the strength he had (which was more than normal Grian) to pin Mumbo to the chair, a sick grin on Not - Grian's face._ _

__The. there was a white hot pain in Mumbo's stomach and he let out a sharp cry, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. It hurt so bad, and Mumbo couldn't keep himself from starting to cry._ _

__Not - Grian took a few steps backwards, letting Mumbo slump down in the chair. The red wearing Hermit put the dagger thing back into his inventory and retied Mumbo using what looked like butchered leads, before Not - Grian took the dagger out again._ _

__Mumbo watched as Not - Grian started to laugh, staring at the dagger with this weird fascination._ _

__"It's been a long time since I've spilt fresh blood." He grinned, and Mumbo felt a fresh batch of tears start, although he quieted himself down until he was barely audible._ _

__Not - Grian still had a weapon, and looked unstable._ _

__Mumbo didn't want to get hurt any more than he already was._ _

__He just wanted to find Doc and go home._ _

__Mumbo's prayers were almost answered when Doc burst through the wall, Mumbo letting out a pitiful whimper when he saw Doc. He'd never been so damn glad to see the creeper hybrid in his life, and by the looks of it, Doc was glad to see Mumbo too._ _

__Doc had rushed forwards and either untied or broke the rope binding Mumbo to the chair - Mumbo was slightly hysterical, kudos to Not Grian for stabbing him and causing this - before Mumbo was pulled off the chair, almost into Doc's lap._ _

__From there, Doc propped Mumbo's head up on the bottom of the staircase / chair, and somehow got some sort of white cloth (Mumbo wasn't sure where from), starting to press it onto Mumbo's wound, making Mumbo start to cry again. He whimpered whenever the pressure was too much, and at that point? He'd rather Doc let him die and respawn._ _

__Then Doc was ripped away from Mumbo's side, making the redstoner let out a sharp cry, trying to reach for Doc._ _

__He could faintly register that Doc was arguing with Not - Grian, who'd pinned him to one of the walls, but everything hurt and Mumbo couldn't focus on Doc much._ _

__He could however, try and watch. He may not be able to register words, but he could know what was happening and try to maybe help Doc if possible._ _

__Not - Grian seemed really angry, and he used the dagger already covered in Mumbo's blood to slash at Doc's face, blood splattering to the ground. Doc's good eye was squeezed shut and it looked like that was where the blood was coming from, although Mumbo wasn't sure._ _

__Mumbo watched Not - Grian stab the dagger into Doc's robot eye, sparks flying as Not - Grian yanked the blade of of Doc's robot eye. The creeper hybrid violently fought back, making Not - Grian grin._ _

__Doc was thrown to the floor near where Mumbo was, Not - Grian pinning him down. Then Not - Grian took Doc's robot arm into his hands, grinning at Doc as he said something._ _

__The sound of wires tearing and metal crunching together drew Mumbo's attention to Doc's robot arm, which had been completely torn off._ _

__Not good._ _

__Sparks continuing to fly from both broken electronics caught on one of the maps that made up this infinity room, the black walls catching alight, burning through both item frame and the fragile papers._ _

__Not - Grian grinned, and said the only thing Mumbo could make out._ _

__"Good luck escaping."_ _

__Not - Grian flew off, leaving Doc and Mumbo alone with the fire._ _

__

__—-_ _

__

__The smoke was so thick, and clogged up the air. Breathing was hard for Mumbo, and he spluttered at the thick air._ _

__Fire flickered far too close to Mumbo and where Doc lay unconscious, but Mumbo couldn't move himself out of the way and he hated it. His stab wound still burned and ached, although Mumbo had almost adjusted to the pain._ _

__Almost._ _

__Before Mumbo knew what was happening, Iskall and Jevin burst into the burning infinity room, and before Mumbo knew it, Iskall was holding Mumbo, using their elytra to fly them both out._ _

__Jevin followed soon behind with Doc, only for Jevin to let out a shriek. He crashed into a hill side, an arrow dug into his side. Mumbo could barely process what was happening, still clutching onto Iskall with everything he had. Doc was sprawled out across the ground, and Jevin hurriedly placed an ender chest, stuffing Doc's inventory into it._ _

__Jevin looked so panicked, and Mumbo was scared._ _

__Then Not - Grian appeared, landing next to Jevin. Jevin panicked, and pulled out a sword. Mumbo heard a faint apology murmured, before Jevin stabbed Doc, the hybrid turning into a puff of smoke as everyone did when the died._ _

__Mumbo could feel his communicator buzz in his pocket, presumably with a message saying that Doc had been slain, before Not - Grian tackled Jevin to the ground, a sick grin on Not - Grian's face._ _

__Jevin mouthed the word 'run', and Iskall must have listened. The Swede took to the skies, abandoning Jevin and Not - Grian. Mumbo clutched onto Iskall, until the landed at Iskall's base._ _

__Mumbo passed out the second they landed._ _


	13. Robotics. How do they work?

Iskall felt absolutely awful.

Jevin was gone. No one had seen him in a month, and Iskall really doubted that Jevin was still on HermitCraft.

They highly suspected that Grian (or whatever was wearing his friend's skin) had done something or altered something to permanently kill, or ban Jevin. Iskall had a feeling that Xisuma (or something abusing Xisuma's admin powers) had played some role in it at one point too.

Jevin had basically sacrificed himself for Iskall and Mumbo and Doc, and Iskall didn't know how to feel about that.

Speaking of Mumbo and Doc, they seemed to be doing fine.

Almost.

Iskall had been doing their best to heal their two teammates (well, Mumbo mostly. Doc was sorta healed when Jevin slain him to avoid Doc being captured again), and things had been going not greatly.

Iskall wasn't good at healing themself most of the time; let alone two other hermits!

Both Doc and Mumbo were in stable conditions though. Mumbo's stab wound still hurt Mumbo to touch, but it was healing nicely. Iskall suspected that there would be a pretty bad scar there in the end, although they hadn't mentioned it to Mumbo yet.

Doc was the problem child this time around.

Grian (or whatever it was) had cut Doc multiple times across his good eye, and it hadn't healed properly when Doc had respawned. According to the next best person on information about respawning, Wels, something had gone wrong and while the wounds closed slightly, the respawn had made them infected.

Wels had suspected foul play, and Iskall had a bad feeling that something had deffintely been altered by Xisuma.

Doc seemed to have the same idea as Iskall did, and had said that he'd fought so hard to keep Mumbo alive after being stabbed because Doc had suspected that if Grian had managed to kill Mumbo, something even worse might have happened.

For example, perma - death. 

Doc had said that he felt lucky that wound infection was the worst that had happened to him, as Doc knew how to treat infection.

Mumbo might not have been so lucky, and Jevin certainly wasn't as fortunate.

The overall verdict for Doc and Mumbo's health was that they'd be okay. Scarred, certainly, but they'd survive.

Iskall just hoped that nothing worse than what they'd seen would happen. 

\---

Iskall let out a frustrated sigh, leaning back in their chair. Redstone dust littered their workspace, and Iskall didn't know what to do.

They'd been trying to work on new robotic parts for Doc, using their own robotic diamond eye as reference, but nothing would work. The redstone wouldn't fall in the right place, the cut iron didn't slot together correctly, the red glass Iskall was using shattered every time they tried to shape it for Doc's eye.

It was a mess, and Iskall couldn't figure out where they'd gone wrong or why nothing was working for them. Normally, everything worked fine and ran smoothly when Iskall wanted to upgrade their own mechanical eye.

Doc's just wasn't working, and Iskall felt like they'd somehow failed the creeper hybrid even more.

Iskall finally decided to draw up a new set of blueprints, this time modelling Doc's artificial limbs after Iskall's own, using a similar design. The eye was easy for Iskall to replicate, letting out a sigh as the redstone finally collaborated with them. They sealed the front of the eye up quickly, after about an hour of work, and set it to the side.

Glancing at his blueprints for Doc's arm, Iskall decided to give it a try.

Doc needed a new arm soon, especially since they needed Doc's pvp skills to help them take down their weird, out of character friends.

Friends who Iskall wasn't sure they could continue to call friends, after what they'd seen happen.

—-

To Iskall's surprise, the wiring and redstone work seemed to be going well.

Although Iskall themself couldn't test it, since they weren't missing an arm and frankly, weren't willing to cut their arm off to try it out and test their redstone, the programming had gone well and Iskall was almost certain that it would work for Doc.

Which was good.

Calling Doc into their workspace, Iskall told Doc to close his eyes, before they started to get to work.

Iskall unwired and disconnected the damaged mechanical eye, taking it away from Doc's face. they ignored the scarring as they quickly connected the new mechanical eye to Doc's face.

"Open your eyes." Iskall told the German, and Doc did as Iskall had told him.

A smile came to the Swede's face when Doc realised what Iskall had done, the creeper hybrid's face lighting up.

"And, I made you an arm. I think it works, but I couldn't test it properly." Iskall turned around and picked up the new mechanical arm, showing it to Doc.

After some instruction, Iskall managed to disconnect the remains of the old mechanical arm, and connect the new one. Iskall was quite proud of themself when Doc started to test it out, the wrist and elbow and joints all moving smoothly as Doc held a few things to test the strength.

Iskall grinned, and they saw Doc smile back at them.

"Thank you, Iskall."

Doc seemed really genuine in his thanks, and Iskall couldn't help but beam at Doc.

They would get through this. Doc was repaired and healing after the wound infection, Mumbo was healing after getting stabbed, and Iskall was ready to help their friends and find out what happened to Jevin.

There was only one issue.

Well, five issues.

Grian, Xisuma, Stress, False and Cleo.

Grian, Xisuma and Stress were issues for obvious reasons.

Grian had tortured Doc and Mumbo.

Xisuma was more possessive and controlling, and Iskall constantly felt like they was being lied to.

Stress was constantly lying, and Iskall always felt like they was being manipulated when she spoke to them.

Cleo and False were the other problem children. False wasn't speaking to any of them and had said "Screw off, jerk!" to Iskall when they'd tried to confront her about it. And, well, Cleo was still missing, although Joe had sworn that he'd seen her gathering supplies, moving stiffly through the districts.

And Iskall had a very bad feeling about all of it.


	14. It's all a lie

"See you later?" Scar grinned at Cub, who smiled at Scar.

Somewhat tensley, mind you.

"See you later, Scar." Cub took off using his elytra, in some sort of a hurry, and Scar smiled. They'd had a rather productive day, and Scar had made some diamonds via his share of Concorp.

Cub had been acting off all day, and had oddly spent as much time away from Scar as possible, but it couldn't mean anything.

Could it?

Either way, nothing could really ruin his day now, especially since he had scheduled lunch with Stress. He hadn't spoken to her in a while, and she was his friend, so he!d found nothing out of the ordinary when she'd approached him a couple of days ago and asked him if he'd like to go for lunch with her.

He'd of course, eagerly accepted, happy to spend some time with her again, and had gone on with his day.

Quickly making his way over to Stress' base, via the newly finished Nether Hub, Scar shivered upon reaching Stress' base. It was cold and in an icy biome; what do you expect from Scar? He lived on an island with a volcano in a warm biome.

The cold wasn't his thing.

Either way, Scar decided to try and deal with the cold, walking into Stress' base.

The large fortress was almost comforting, aside from the cold that radiated from the walls, Scar shivering slightly as he walked through Stress' base. He was looking for where Stress herself might be, although he had no clues to where.

The good news for Scar, was that Stress entered the area he was in, her eyes bright.

"Shopping district?" She offered, and Scar nodded. As much as he knew that the cold was Stress' domain, and she probably loved it here, he was personally not much of a fan, and was ready to leave.

Stress took the lead, Scar following close behind her as they went to the shopping district via Grian's nether portal and the nether hub.

For whatever reason, the smell of blood was thick in Grian's base, and there was a thick, foggy texture to the air, which unnervered Scar. How was Grian able to live in this?

On that note, how was Stress able to move so effortlessly through Grian's base, and guide Scar while she was at it? He was almost gasping for breath, yet she was there, able to guide him through and out into the open air of Mumbo's territory, Scar trying to regain himself.

Whatever that fog was, it had made him feel lightheaded and breathless and he really didn't like it.

Sitting on one of Mumbo's islands, Stress soothingly sat with Scar, Scar still trying to get his breath back. This felt like how an asthma attack was described, with the shortness of breath and not working lungs.

Or something like that. 

\---

Fortunately for Scar, Stress had offered him a potion (what potion it was, he didn't know. It had a really bitter taste, a thick and gluggy texture, and a weird colour that Scar had never seen before) which had cured whatever lasting effects the fog thing had done to him, since the effects hadn't been going away on their own.

Kinda like milk and normal potion effects.

Either way, the strange potion had done wonders for his breathing, despite his mind feeling slightly foggy.

Scar and Stress were now wandering through the Shopping district, going past the different shops. The pickle shop, the multitude of rocket shops, all sorts of different shops, the two walked past.

"Did you hear what Cub did the other day?" Stress asked out of the blue.

Scar gave Stress a surprised look. He wasn't aware of Cub doing anything behind his back recently.

"No, I haven't." He said, and Stress' face almost lit up at that news.

"Well, False told me that Joe told her that Cub was the one behind Jevin's vanishing, and is holding both Jevin and Cleo somewhere."

Well that stunned Scar.

He stopped walking momentarily, staring at her with surprise.

Was that why Cub had been avoiding Scar all day?

"Where did Joe find that out?" Scar finally had a coherent thought that he could translate into an an answer for Stress, her brown eyes gleaming slightly as he asked her.

"False told me that he told her that he'd seen Cleo out in the new minigame district. She apparantly told him that she was running from Cub, and that Jevin wasn't able to escape. Joe tried to help her, but a tipped arrow was shot at her, she fell unconcious, and Joe would have been taken too if he hadn't fled." Stress explained.

For whatever reason (possibly his potion effected, foggy mind), Scar was quick to believe her, and he felt a stab of betrayal. Cub was his buisness partner, and his friend! How could Cub do something like this to Scar?

How could Cub do something like this to Cleo and Jevin, and then act like nothing had happened?

Without another word to Stress, Scar stumbled off, trying to regather his thoughts again.

This was the worst news he could possibly recive at this point in time. 

In his hurry to leave, Scar completely missed Stress' 'normal' eyes go black, and a devious grin cross her face.


	15. The Cub chapter

Cub was on edge.

Stress said that Scar had been the one behind Cleo and Jevin's dissapearance.

Xisuma oddly didn't seem the same (for some reason).

Mumbo had apparantly been stabbed (according to Stress).

Everything was just a mess.

No one else seemed to notice anything wrong though. Of course, everyone was worried for Cleo and Jevin. This was the second time that Jevin had been taken, and Cleo had been gone for a long time, but most things had gone unnoticed.

For example, no one had noticed that Scar was behind Cleo and Jevin's kidnapping until Grian had told Stress that 'Poultry Man' had reportedly found them while spamming chickens in Scar's base.

Either way, Scar was the one behind the vanishing of Jevin and Cleo, and Cub felt betrayed.

Betrayed on Cleo and Jevin's half.

Betrayed on his own half. Scar was his fellow Convex! They'd been an official duo since Season 5, and Scar had to go and kidnap some of their other friends?

Cub and Scar may be pranksters, but kidnapping was across the invisible line by about a thousand kilometres.

There wasn't anything that Cub could do either. Xisuma was acting slightly strange, a lot more controlling than usual, so Cub didn't trust Xisuma with this information.

For the first time since he'd become a Hermit, Cub didn't trust Xisuma with something.

What was the server coming to?

\---

Landing at the ConCorp Headquarters, Cub let out a sigh walking into the kelp farm. He needed to check on it, and if Stress had told him the truth (which he believed she had), then Scar was likely going to be too busy with his prisoners to help Cub restock the multitude of ConCorp owned stores.

Trying to do work for a company he shared with a kidnapper just didn't feel right though, so Cub found himself unable to continue. He left the kelp farm, taking off via the big like wings of his elytra and rocket power, trying to regain his thoughts.

He didn't know how to feel anymore, and he didn't know what to do. Scar had betrayed them all, and Cub was doomed with the knowledge.

He honestly couldn't imagine how Stress must have felt, holding onto that without being able to tell anyone. At least he knew that he wasn't the only one to know that Scar was bad. Grian/Poultry Man knew, Stress knew, Cub knew, and possibly more.

They would get through it.

They had too.

Cub wouldn't rest until Scar was brought to justice.

And he couldn't help but smile at that promise.


	16. The plot thickens

False absolutely hated this.

She hated listening to Rowan.

The thing that was controlling Xisuma against his will.

She hated Cleo's safety being on the line in exchange for her compliance.

Even worse, she hated knowing what had happened to Jevin.

She'd watched, drug along by Rowan, as Jevin was permanently killed by Heidi, who she'd learned was in control of Grian.

She watched Grian kill Jevin. She'd watched Xisuma cover it up.

She'd watched Stress agree to lie about it, and pin the blame of Cleo's vanishing and Jevin's death on innocent Hermits.

She'd seen the fear in his eyes. She'd watched him panic, and heard him cry for her help.

False had done nothing.

She was just as bad as they were.

And she hated it. 

\---

They were just across the Shopping district.

False had walked out of the Undercut shop, and had immediately spotted Mumbo. The moustached man's suit jacket was gone, his slightly grimy white shirt showing clearly. False could see the bandages wrapped around Mumbo's middle, and she winced slightly, remembering what Grian - no, Heidi - had told her about the torture of Mumbo and Doc.

By Mumbo's side was Iskall and Doc, the three not an uncommon group now.

Doc seemed to have healed, False barely able to see the scars that marred Doc's face. The electronics were either repaired or new on the creeper hybrid, and False faintly wondered who'd done the robotic work.

Maybe Iskall?

False wasn't sure.

An inventory full of wood for Rowan, False turned to leave, readying herself with rockets and her elyta.

Unfortunately for False, she couldn't take off in time, hearing Iskall call her name.

False bit down on her bottom lip, turning to face Mumbo and Iskall and Doc who were approaching her.

This wasn't right.

Rowan was going to kill her for this, if he found out.

False hoped that Rowan wouldn't find out.

"Hey, Iskall." False said as the three finally caught her, False's voice rather tense as she spoke.

Iskall seemed to be oblivious (that or they were trying to make her feel slightly uncomfortable), a smile on Iskall's face. Doc was a lot more tense, while Mumbo offered False a smile, albeit pained.

"What are you three doing here?" No one else seemed to be talking, so False spoke up.

Bad decision.

"We were actually looking for you, False." Mumbo spoke up, and False's heart skipped a beat.

This was bad. This was very bad.

"Oh. What about?" She asked, a nervous feeling starting to build up in her stomach.

"You've been avoiding us and we want to know what's going on. You're the only other Hermit aside from us that even vaguelly knows the situation, and we need your support." Doc stated bluntly. Mumbo winced, and False felt panic start to replace her earlier nervousness.

She knew where this was going.

"I'd love to join you, but I can't." False said. She backed up slightly, before kneeling down and gouing through her inventory. She pulled outa spare book and quill, scribbled out the shopping notes that Rowan had left her, and write down a note of her own.

She pulled her inventory back onto her, shoved the book into Mumbo's hands, and took off. She hoped the book would explain everything.

Or give them a vague idea of why she couldn't help them.

Guilt bubbled all through False, but she couldn't do anything more to help them.

She already knew that she'd suffer heavy consequences if Rowan or Heidi found out. 

\---

"Well?"

False slung her inventory to the floor, taking out anything valuble to her. She almost threw it at Rowan, Xisuma's eyes staring into her.

"Good." Rowan said, cycling through False's inventory.

False didn't know why Rowan wanted her to buy as much wood as she had.

She didn't know what projects he had planned.

But she knew she wouldn't like it.

The next thing False knew, Rowan had shoved three lots of papers into her hands, held together in unlabled folders. There were two loose sheets above those folders, one addressed to Scar and the other adressed to Doc.

"Keep the folders with you, and give the notes on top to their adressed person. Once Doc and Scar have completed their task, I'll tell you where to put the folder." Rowan instructed, and False nodded, her heart pounding.

This didn't look good.

When Rowan sent her away, False was happy to leave Xisuma's base.

She decided to drop a note to Doc first, easily locating him shopping in the shopping district. Mumbo and Iskall had left by that point, although she knew that it hadn't been long enough for them to have read through and analised the book she'd left Mumbo with.

False dropped the paper adressed to him on top of a shulker box she was sure belonged to him, and took off, trying to find Scar.

The Convex was restocking a ConCorp shop, so it wasn't difficult for False to leave the paper adressed to him on top of a shulker box sitting to one side. It looked like it held the items Scar was trying to stock, although False wasn't ready to snoop.

She was still worrying about Cleo after all.


	17. Oh boy, exposition!

I don't have much time to write this down, because Rowan could be watching me, but here we go.

First and foremost, you have to stop contacting me. I want to help you, but I can't do that if you try and talk to me. Cleo's life is on the line.  
Xisuma isn't normal Xisuma anymore, like Grian and Stress aren't themselves. We figured that much out. What I can now tell you though, is that I have a vague idea to who they are now. Xisuma is being possessed or controlled by something that calls itself Rowan. Similarly, Grian is possessed by Heidi and Stress by Kady. They make me talk to them using those names, so Grian and Stress and Xisuma can be saved.  
Jevin is dead. Heidi killed him and Xisuma must have covered it up or enabled Grian to perma-death him. Either way, Jevin's gone forever  
. On that note, Grian/Heidi may be able to perma-death people now, and it's likely that Rowan and Kady have that power too.  
I heard what happened in Heidi's new infinity room, and Doc? You did good in keeping Mumbo from bleeding out.  
Use this information wisely. We're depending on you three.

\- False

—-

Mumbo felt numb as he read False's note out loud to Doc and Iskall.

He was in shock at first.

False was being blackmailed by Xisuma?

Well, Rowan, apparently.

He could hear Doc curse, Iskall not making a sound.

Were they equally as shocked? As angry as Mumbo was?

Grian didn't deserve to be used as some vessel for Heidi, whoever it may be. Grian had done nothing wrong to deserve this!

Neither has Xisuma, or Stress. Mumbo's friends didn't deserve this.

And Cleo... Jevin... False...

Cleo was still hypnotised, by the sounds of it. False was being blackmailed in exchange for Cleo's safety.

And Jevin...

Jevin was dead.

Mumbo had only ever known one other person to perma-die, and it was his fault that the person had died.

Now he felt even worse.

Jevin's death was on him. If he and Doc hadn't been stupid and hadn't confronted Heidi, they wouldn't have gotten tortured and stick in a burning room. Iskall and Jevin wouldn't have had to come and rescue Mumbo and Doc, and Jevin wouldn't have been shot down.

_His fault. ___

___This was all **his** fault. ____ _

___****** ** _ _ _

___****_—-_ ** ** _ _ _

___****** ** _ _ _

Mumbo didn't realise he'd been crying until Iskall led him to a chair, letting Mumbo sit down. Iskall had gently wiped Mumbo's tears away, offering the redstoner a hug that Mumbo inevitably took.

Iskall gave the best hugs.

"Are you okay, Mumbo?" Iskall asked, and Mumbo shook his head. He couldn't keep pretending anymore.

Before Mumbo knew what he was doing, he blurted out everything he'd been keeping to himself. His worry for Grian, his inability to sleep, the numbness that would strike him out of nowhere, his guilt over Jevin's death, everything.

This was all Mumbo's fault.

If he had kept a closer eye on Grian from the beginning, he could have stopped the Heidi person that False talked about from reaching Grian. He could have helped them sort everything out.

Grian could have had a happy first season of HermitCraft, and Rowan and Kady and Heidi could have been shit down quickly.

Instead, Cleo and False were in danger. Jevin was dead, and Xisuma, Stress and Grian were being possessed.

And it was all Mumbo's fault.

"Mumbo, it's okay." Doc's voice brought Mumbo from his overwhelming thoughts, the moustached man looking up at the creeper hybrid.

"None of this is your fault Mumbo. It's not anyone's fault." Doc's voice was even, and Mumbo found himself able to take some comfort in Doc's voice,

"Well, it might be-"

"Shut up Iskall."

Mumbo couldn't help but laugh, using his shirt sleeve to wipe his eyes.

"Thank you for listening to me." Mumbo smiled at them, and Iskall grinned back, the Swede immediately bouncing back after Doc shut him down.

"What are friends for?" Iskall smiled, and Mumbo grinned back.

He stood back up and fetched the abandoned book with False's information, before sitting back down.

"Now, let's get to work." 

—-

Running a hand through his hair, Mumbo continued to stare at the words on the page, his brain fumbling through them. Doc and Iskall and himself had some theories, but nothing they could be certain of.

From what Mumbo was aware off, it sounded like if they could get rid of Rowan, they'd have the upper hand. Rowan sounded like the big leader of the group, and Mumbo was almost certain that they could get Cleo and False back if Rowan was gone.

Iskall had said that aside from Xisuma, it seemed like whatever was possessing their friends amplified traits to an extent. Iskall had said that Stress would occasionally manipulate them into letting her use resources or their farms, but it was a friendly type of manipulation. The type that Stress - or Kady - had been doing was dangerous, and things had been tense all over the HermitCraft server. Doc said he had a feeling that Kady was trying to turn everyone against each other.

Iskall's theory seemed to check out.

Mumbo knew Grian, and he knew that Grian was a bit of a gremlin who thrived off chaos. From what Mumbo had seen, Heidi seemed to take those traits and triple it. There had been reports of mines being exploded. The Concorp tree farm had been burnt to the ground earlier today, just after Mumbo had received the book from False.

Cub had messaged the group chat very frantically, asking why his tree farm was burning.

Some of Mumbo's own redstone contraptions had been purposefully destroyed with water and TNT, and Mumbo had a very bad feeling that it was Grian/Heidi's fault.

Either way, all the Hermits were in danger, and Mumbo had a very bad feeling about this.


	18. Doc isn't doing too well

_Guilty._

_Guilty. ___

__**_Guilty._ ** _ _

__This was his fault._ _

__This was all his fault._ _

__And he was only making it worse by complying._ _

__White eyes glowed in the dark, leering at him. The echoing voices of his friends, telling him that he was a traitor echoed around in his head. Mumbo was crying somewhere, and Iskall was screaming and Grian and Xisuma and Stress were laughing, and he couldn't find any of them to stop them from hurting Iskall and Mumbo._ _

__False was standing next to Cleo, a red 'x' drawn across False's mouth with what Doc hoped was redstone or dye over the other option. Cleo just stood there unmoving, staring at him with her hypnotised expression._ _

__Scar then warped in front of Doc, a hand outstretched. The look on Scar's face was threatening, and Doc was forced to take Scar's hand._ _

__The other hermits went silent and Doc found himself helping build a government facility, and Iskall and Mumbo looked betrayed as they stared across the fence at him and he couldn't breathe and -_ _

__

__—-_ _

__

__Doc woke himself up via falling off the bed._ _

__He was breathing heavily, and he could feel himself crying and he wasn't doing to great._ _

__His dream — or nightmare — played vividly in his head and Doc honestly wanted to curl up in a hole and let Grian kill him the same way (however that was) that Jevin had died. If Grian or Xisuma showed up, intending to perma - kill him, Doc would have let them. He wouldn't have fought._ _

__His breathing quickened and Doc could feel a fresh lot of tears prick the corner of his good eye, and Doc let out a choked sob, his eye squeezed shut._ _

__There was no one here for him._ _

__No one was going to help him._ _

__He was going to die alone in his panic, and there was no one to save him from himself like Iskall and Doc had helped Mumbo._ _

__

__—-_ _

__

__By the time the sun rose, Doc had waited out his panic and calmed himself down._ _

__He was still very upset over what he'd seen in his nightmare, don't doubt that. He was able to think rationally now however, which was a good thing._ _

__Standing up, Doc walked over to where he'd left his communicator and inventory, picking them up. Doc quickly cylcled through his inventory until he found the small, folded paper that had been left on his shulker box yesterday, when he'd been in the shopping district._ _

__He unfolded the paper carefully, reading over it again. Everything about the project he and Scar would be sharing, via Xisuma's command, just screamed that this was a trap, but it would be suspicious to not accept and help with this._ _

__Nothing good would come out of it, but Rowan had instructed Scar and Doc to build a new government facility, and he was going to do it. Maybe he'd find some way to help. Maybe he wouldn't. Either way, he was going to force himself to build "Area 77" with Scar, whether Doc liked it or not._ _

__

__—-_ _

__

__Scar had seemed rather excited when Doc showed up near the burnt ruins of Hermitville at their assigned building sight._ _

__Doc wished he could match Scar's enthusiasm, but knowing that you're helping build a project for the benefit of some malicious spirits that were controlling three of your friends tended to put a damper on any excitement you could experience from a giant project like this._ _

__Xisuma or Grian or Stress had already left materials for Doc and Scar to use, multicoloured shulker boxes lining the yellow and black border around the area that would soon transform into Area 77. Doc could see multiple places where hiding things would be easy, and he couldn't help but point out a few possible places for structures when Scar asked Doc for any ideas._ _

__Maybe it was just Scar's enthusiasm being contagious, Doc didn't know about that. What he did know, was that he was going to make the most of this. He may not like this very much, but at the very least, he could have fun with the building._ _

__Anyone could tell that Doc needed something to help him relax, after what had been going on over the past year._ _


	19. The Griangst intensifies

When Rowan released Xisuma for the first time in months, Xisuma almost forgot how to breathe.

He had no energy, and his limbs felt heavy and Xisuma wanted to curl up and sleep, but he knew that Rowan wouldn't have let Xisuma go temporarily if Rowan didn't want something that Xisuma could provide.

Not that Xisuma could provide much at the moment. All of his energy had been drained, and it physically hurt to try and move into an upright sitting position.

His head felt slightly foggy, probably because Rowan had left him, and Xisuma could vaguely remember what had happened while he was under Rowan's control.

Before Xisuma or Rowan could say anything to each other, Grian and Stress - well, Heidi and Kady - walked into the room. Xisuma turned away as Heidi and Kady let Grian and Stress go. The least he could do for them was offer them some privacy and give them a chance to regain themselves after Xisuma let them get dragged into this situation. 

—-

By the time Grian started crying, Xisuma had gotten together enough strength and enough energy to crawl over to them, letting Grian clutch onto Xisuma. The winged Hermit cuddled into Xisuma's chest, although Xisuma didn't know why. Did Grian have a better understanding of what had gone on?

Maybe. Xisuma didn't know.

"You called us here for a reason, Rowan, and I'd like for you to get it over and done with." Stress spoke up, her voice shaky. Xisuma felt a pained pang run through him when Stress spoke. She was too innocent and kind for this.

This was all Xisuma's fault.

Grian's arms then tightened around Xisuma's middle, drawing Xisuma back to the present. Right. Rowan and Heidi and Kady were in front of them, and Grian and Stress and Xisuma were obviously going to be suffering more. Xisuma could wallow in self pity later, when Rowan was done with letting Xisuma run free.

"I just need a break." Rowan said, looking around. "It gets tiring, having to work someone else's body when they aren't cooperating." Rowan stared at Xisuma, the admin feeling a hot flash of indignation. He didn't say anything though. He knew better than to argue with Rowan.

Heidi grinned. "Work can never be too tiring when you've got an easy to manipulate, cooperative host."

That made Grian start to cry even harder, and once again, Xisuma felt the urge to speak up. Grian had been right. They weren't just hosts. They shouldn't even be hosts to anything in the first place!

Rowan just grinned at the group of Hermits, before standing up. "We'll be back soon, Hosts, Don't do anything stupid while we're gone."

Rowan then left, Heidi and Kady close behind Rowan.

And all Xisuma could do was try and comfort his friends.


	20. The start of the Dragon Bros

Something was happening.

Not just in general. Something was happening to Iskall in particular.

They had been doing their thing, going around the shopping district, picking up a couple stacks of rockets from Tango's shop, when they'd seen False and Grian / Heidi. False had not looked happy about whatever her and Heidi had been talking about, which wasn't too concerning to Iskall.

They knew about Grian and Stress and Xisuma being possessed, and you generally aren't too happy about having to converse with possessed, evil people.

Heidi had then spotted Iskall watching them, had pulled out a potion and transferred it into a splash bottle. Iskall had tried to back up. but they couldn't run fast enough. Heidi had shoved the bottle into False's hands, and told her "We're changing our target now. Throw it at them, and let it do it's thing".

Which was terrifying for Iskall.

The potion was a rich, almost void like black, although it seemed to have a bit of a purple aura around it. It burned at Iskall's skin when it was thrown at them, the glass shattering as the splash potion hit their chest. Iskall had stumbled backwards into Tango's shop, their back hitting the wall, before they'd fallen to the floor.

Everything was burning, and Iskall wanted to cry but they couldn't exactly explain the situation well, considering the absurdity of Xisuma and Grian and Stress' predicament. Explaining the situation is what the other hermits would want if they asked why Iskall was crying on the floor.

They had passed out relatively soon after being hit, and fortunately for them, Mumbo had been the one to find Iskall.

Iskall had spent the first twenty minutes of their waking up, explaining everything to Mumbo. They explained the potion, they explained the sentence they had heard, and how they thought that Heidi might have been trying to target Mumbo instead of Iskall, all that fun stuff you generally have to explain after being attacked by your friend and something wearing your other friend's skin. 

That's where they were now. Sitting in Mumbo's bed, the blankets wrapped around them, wondering what was going to happen. That potion had not seemed like poison in the slightest, by colour or effect.

Well, maybe effect. It had burned their skin and made them very weak, but Iskall doubted that the poison like effects of the potion were all that was going to be happening to them. The potion had looked expensive to make, with it's purple aura and glossiness, and silky black colour, and Iskall had a really bad feeling about this. 

—-

In the week that had passed since Iskall had been hit with that potion, nothing good bad happened.

Mumbo and Iskall had finally realised that Doc was avoiding them and putting all his time into a project with Scar that Iskall and Mumbo didn't even know the name of yet for one.

False was even more evasive then usual.

Oh yeah. And Iskall's train of thought had a habit of diverting from normal thoughts to thoughts that told them to go feral and abandon Mumbo.

That and it was growing progressively harder and harder to do things normally. They'd been having weird pains in their back and their head and their everywhere. They felt physically sick when they tried to eat anything that wasn't a meat, and even then, cooked meats tasted awful to Iskall.

Their elytra had stopped cooperating with them, so they could no longer fly, the beetle wings locking together any time Iskall tried to use them, resulting in far too much fall damage that Iskall could have avoided.

Armour wouldn't fit properly either. That or it too, didn't want to cooperate with Iskall. Their helmet (which was modified to fit around their diamond eye) didn't fit anymore and hurt Iskall's head to try and wear it. Similarly, a chestplate made their back pains worse and the armour leggings felt too restrictive. The boots were the only things that still worked, so Iskall now had a tendency to never take them off. They'd like to have at least a little protection, thank you very much!

Since there wasn't much they could do about the leggings and chestplate, Iskall ignored them. They did, however, start to wear an ender dragon head. It wasn't the best, but if it could offer their head any kind of protection, then they were happy to take it.

Of course, Iskall got questions from a lot of Hermits, but there wasn't much they could do to stop the questions, so they made up an excuse to wear the dragon head.

What more could Iskall do about it?


	21. Area 77? That exists

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scar's pleased with his work on Area 77, and wants to show it off to Xisuma.
> 
> it's a shame that something feels off about the situation.

Scar was happy.

Area 77 was almost finished being built, and Scar was proud of the work he'd put into it. Doc had already located a few things to put i to Area 77 per Xisuma's request, including a weird Nether portal made of diamond blocks. The idea, from what Xisuma had told Scar, was that Area 77 would be a government facility to put strange and glitchy things in. Example, that portal.

Or just stuff that shouldn't be released to the public.

Either way, Scar was pleased with what he and Doc had accomplished, and he was excited that Xisuma had chosen him to be one of the guards. It should be a lot of fun!

Scar let out a content hum as as he wandered around the facility, looking through each building once more. He was honestly impressed by his own building skills, and he had to admit that Doc had done a wonderful job with his parts as well. The redstone worked perfectly, the levels of detain in the facility was amazing, and Scar was very pleased with it.

Deciding to ignore Area 77 for now, and get Doc to help him tell Xisuma that they'd finished, Scar pulled out his communicator, shooting a quick message to Doc via direct messages over the group chat. Doc messaged back almost immediately, telling Scar to meet him at Grian's base, which was something Scar was happy to comply with.

Of course, there was the obvious question of "Why are Xisuma and Doc at Grian's base", but Scar was willing to believe that Grian had asked for resources or something similar.

Besides, if it was just Doc, Grian, Xisuma and Scar, there was a high chance that Scar could let Xisuma know that Cub was a traitor who had Jevin and Cleo locked up somewhere. Then they could save their missing friends!

Using his elytra, Scar powered on over to Grian's base, coughing slightly as he landed. The fog from when he and Stress had been over a while ago was now gone, although the air felt heavy. It was bearable though, and Scar was able to easily adjust to breathing the thick air in.

He found Xisuma and Doc and Grian in Grian's aviary, the creeper hybrid looking very uncomfortable. Grian and Xisuma were happily chatting, a bright look in Grian's eyes.

"Scar!" Doc seemed relieved to see Scar enter, although Scar wasn't sure why. Xisuma and Grian were wonderful Hermits; why would Doc seem uncomfortable or tense around them?

"You two said you needed me for something?" Xisuma drew the attention of Doc and Scar, and Scar brightened up. Oh yeah! He and Doc were supposed to tell Xisuma that Area 77 was completed.

"We finished the project you asked us to build for you." Doc stated flatly, and Grian laughed.

"You can call it by the name 'Area 77'. I'm in on the little secret, you two." The newest Hermit said. Doc flinched, although Scar barely noticed.

Xisuma seemed pleased to learn that.

"Good. Would you care to give us a tour?" Xisuma smiled at Scar, and Scar felt slightly uneasy.

Something felt off.

It was nothing though.

Right?


	22. The evil rat speaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An insight on Rowan

The little rat was starting to get on Rowan's nerves.

Mumbo Jumbo, Rowan recalled, was the biggest problem.

False Symmetry could get in the way, but Rowan had a plan for her. Besides; she still thought Zombie Cleo was alive, and Rowan could hold that against her. Grian and Stress Monster were still cooperative and he knew that Heidi and Kady had strong holds on them like Rowan did to Xisuma. Scar and Doc Monster were currently cooperating because of the facility project that made them side with Rowan.

Welsknight, Joe Hills and all the other 'Hermits', as Xisuma had called them, had any knowledge about what Rowan was up too, aside from Iskall85.

About Iskall85?

Rowan had plenty of plans for them. The plans were admittedly made for Mumbo Jumbo, but he could work with Iskall being chosen instead. His plans might work even better with Iskall85 than Mumbo Jumbo.

Standing up, Rowan walked over to the wall of the tower, glancing over the maps on the table. Heidi had kindly offered a tower of Grian's base for Rowan to use, just in case anyone thought to check inside of his host's base, an offer Rowan had taken Heidi up on.

Grinning, Rowan pinpointed the place he wanted to go to, leaving the tower. He took off using the fake wings that Xisuma insisted on using for travel, heading over to Iskall85's base. He checked Xisuma's communicator and sent a message to Scar and Doc Monster, calling for them.

If everything was going to plan, then Iskall85 would not be staying at their base for much longer.

Not if Rowan had anything to say about it.


	23. Mumbo the Hippie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mumbo becomes a Hippie to try and fight Rowan and Area 77. 
> 
> Whether it goes well is a whole other matter.

Mumbo was done.

He wanted to cry.

He was alone.

Rowan had taken the only other person Mumbo had left. 

Grian was possessed.

Doc was working on some secret project and had abandoned Mumbo.

Stress was possessed.

Xisuma was possessed.

Jevin was dead.

Cleo was still missing.

False was being blackmailed.

And now Rowan had taken Iskall away, and locked him in this so called 'Area 77'?

He just felt tired at this point. His wanted his friends back, and he wanted things to be like they were in Season 5, when there wasn't any possession or betrayal or secrets.

He wanted everything to be okay again. 

—-

Walking through the shopping district, Mumbo looked around wearily. He felt on edge.

The whole 'You have psychopaths possessing your friends and going after your blood' thing does that to you.

He was in need of some rockets and he felt the current easiest way to get some was at Tango's shop. Mumbo didn't feel like doing anything anymore, but he kinda needed to. If he had rockets, he could find where this Area 77 place was, and he could rescue Iskall. Doc was likely going to be there too, so Mumbo could ask the creeper hybrid what was up with the secret project.

Yes. If Mumbo had Iskall and Doc back, they could rescue Cleo, help False get out of the blackmail situation, and crush whatever was possessing Mumbo's friends.

Dropping a few diamonds into the chests and taking a few stacks of rockets, Mumbo was quick to take off, scanning the areas surrounding the shopping district. It didn't seem like Area 77 was anywhere near the main island... Maybe near Hermitville?

Mumbo hadn't been there since it was established, although he'd heard that Keralis and Bdubs had moved into houses somewhere near Hermitville when Zedaph had reportedly found them. It was possible, Mumbo considered.

He turned in his flight (although it was nowhere near as graceful as Grian could fly) to head towards Hermitville, glancing over that area. The wind battered at Mumbo's moustache and face as he flew, although he cherished the oddly comforting coldness of the wind.

When he got to Hermitville, the first new thing he saw was a camper-van in a valley. Then he saw the giant metal fence, and his heart sunk. That was definitely Area 77, and Area 77 looked intimidating. 

—-

Ren was the owner of the camper-van (well, Renbob at least), and seemed to be a Hippie now. Renbob listened patiently as Mumbo explained that as part of a, a little game, so to speak, Doc and Scar had taken Iskall and were hiding him somewhere in Area 77, the new environmentally unfriendly building nearby.

Renbob had suggested that Mumbo and Renbob form a little anti Area 77 group, and Mumbo immediately agreed. He'd have to change his clothes, but he was very happy to become a Hippie if it meant that he had someone to help him find Iskall and get Doc back. 

—-

The clothes Renbob had given (and modified) for Mumbo to wear were surprisingly comfortable. He was used to wearing his suit, sure, and it was comfortable, but the blue turtleneck and black sweatpants that Renbob had given him were infinitely more comfortable than his suit.

Renbob sat a flower crown down on top of Mumbo, the werewolf's ears twitching with delight as Mumbo grinned at Renbob. This may not be ideal, but Mumbo would make it work.

He had to.

For Doc. For Iskall.

For Grian.


	24. The Cub Chapter: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cub thinks Scar's suspicious. 
> 
> It's a shame he won't be able to confirm or deny that theory.

Scar was definitely guilty for Cleo and Jevin's dissapearences.

Through narrowed eyes, Cub watched as Scar walked through the gate of the new 'government facility' that Scar had said he'd been working on.

Doc followed close behind Scar, and Cub let out a slight hiss. Doc must be in on this as well...

Either way, Cub had a feeling that this Area 77 thing was just a ruse to build a prison for Jevin and Cleo, and Cub didn't like that.

Not one bit. 

\---

It wasn't smart. Cub knew that much.

But he had a plan to try and help his friends.

Slipping through the too wide across bars of the fence, Cub made his way into the closest building to him, looking around. The architecture was quite nice, Cub had to admit, the detailing catching his eye.

That wasn't why he was here though. The building seemed to be some sort of watch tower, Cub able to hear Scar snoring somewhere in the building.

Cub definitely shouldn't be in that building.

He left the building, soon spotting a runway through the trees. Two of them, in fact.

That looked promising. 

\---

The runway was magnificent, Cub had to admit it. The paths were smooth and the details looked amazing. The sheer size of it dwarfed Cub, although the Convex didn't feel the least bit intimidated. Either Doc or Scar built this, and both of them were lying rats who had imprisoned some of Cub's friends.

Cub needed to help Cleo and Jevin and have Scar (and Doc) brought to justice for this.

He needed to.

Looking around, the moon absent from the sky, Cub almost hit himself.

There was a giant building next to one of the runways, the green roof pointing out it's presense. Admittedly, the green blended in with the trees, but Cub didn't really have time to make excuses for himself.

He needed to check the green roofed building, and he needed to find his friends. 

\---

Similarly to the watch tower, the architecture in what Cub assumed to be a warehouse was magnificent. It was absolutely gorgeous, at least for a warehouse, and Cub couldn't help but feel impressed by the building.

Walking through the building, the Convex could see the building getting darker, containment chambers lining the walls more frequently.

Cub was primarily keeping an eye out for Cleo and Jevin, although he had to admit,there was some pretty cool stuff in each of the containment cells.

Off topic, but Cub heard that Keralis had arrived via something here in Area 77. Cub wasn't sure if he believed that though.

Then Cub saw the next cell, and he let out a shriek of surprise.

Cleo was there.

And she wasn't looking too good.

Using his pickaxe, Cub broke into the cell, his eyes wide with horror. Cleo was lying on the floor, her eyes clouded and blank. Her neck was bent at an unnatural angle, and she was slumped against the back wall.

Her stomach was torn out, more of her ribs showing than normal. There was a fatal amount of blood on the floor, drenching Cleo's torn clothing, and Cub had to suppress the urge to throw up.

The Convex knelt down beside Cleo, brushing a lock of her hair from her face.

Cleo was dead.

And based on the 'being trapped inside of a cell', Cub had a very bad feeling that she wouldn't be respawning anytime soon.

He stayed by her side for a little longer.

He wanted to offer Cleo at least a little bit of respect, after she was brutally murdered.

\---

Although Cub had a feeling that Jevin was in a similar predicament to poor Cleo, he carried on, looking through the containment chambers.

The next thing he found was a new hybrid

He'd jumped when he heard something slam against glass, turning around to see some sort of hybrid in a containment chamber.

It looked like a person, except the hands and feet had turned into these hardened, scale covered claws that looked like they could deal some serious damage. Slightly undersized ender dragon wings had grown from it's back, as had a tail.

An ender dragon head had almost merged with the thing's face, and Cub's heart skipped a beat when the thing finally held still, Cub recognising the familiar diamond eye the thing wore.

Iskall.

The Swede was snarling, staring at Cub. There were scratches across the glass, and Cub didn't have any plans to go into that containment chamber.

Not while Iskall was growling at, and willing to attack Cub.

Before Cub could back away and flee from Area 77 with his new knowledge, he heard wings flap behind him, and hands press him into the glass, face first, giving Cub an excelent, close up view of Iskall (or whatever they had become). 

Grian's voice echoed around the area, Xisuma laughing slightly.

"Now, what do we have here?"


	25. False isn't doing too well

This was her fault.

Cub was trapped in Area 77 because of her.

Jevin was dead because or her.

Cleo hadn't been seen in months because of her (and False had a feeling that she'd never see Cleo again.)

Iskall was being turned into an ender dragon hybrid because of her.

Doc and Scar were helping a monster cause more damage because of her.

Everyone was in danger, _all because of her. ___

__She was the one complying with Rowan's wishes after all. She was a pawn in this game of chess Rowan was playing, and she may have been on the winning team, but she felt like she'd lost._ _

__How can you celebrate your friends being murdered? How could she ever look Grian in the eye, or look at Stress the same way after hearing their voices bragging about the damage Kady and Heidi had caused?_ _

__She may know that Grian and Stress and Xisuma weren't in control of themselves, but that didn't mean she'd ever look at them the same way again. Grian may not be in control, but Jevin's blood was still on his hands. Stress may not be the one spreading distrust, but it was her voice that was convincing the Convex duo to turn on each other._ _

__Xisuma may not be present, but they were his tools and his admin powers that were abused to get more control for Rowan._ _

__How could she ever look at them the same way?_ _

__How would they feel about what they'd been used for?_ _

__False hadn't realised she'd been crying until she could taste salt in her mouth, the blond wiping her eyes with her sleeves. False needed to stay strong about this. She needed to try and help her friends the best she could._ _

__But how could she help them if she couldn't help herself?_ _

__How could she keep Cleo alive if she didn't want to stay alive herself?_ _

__False had been wondering about that for a while. She knew that Heidi and Kady and Rowan had the ability to perma - kill. Jevin was gone, after all. False had seen the aftermath._ _

__False had heard Heidi use Grian's voice to brag about it._ _

__False half wanted to change places with Cleo. Maybe Rowan's control could help numb the hopelessness she felt. Maybe Rowan could take the pain away._ _

__Maybe Cleo would screw up and False would be released from this hell._ _

__Wiping her eyes once more, False stood up, tucking her chair back in. She glanced out the window of her room (well, cell. Stress' castle, once welcoming, now felt like a prison, especially since Rowan had forbidden False from going to her own base until Rowan had gotten what he wanted) and ran her hand over the smooth elytra sitting on the bed._ _

__She could do this._ _

__She had to._ _

__False would get her friends out of this horrible situation, or she would die trying._ _


	26. That escalated quickly

Despite everything else going on, Mumbo couldn't help but find himself having fun.

Ren (or Renbob, as Ren liked to be called nowadays) was a cool guy to hang out with, something Mumbo had forgotten in all the drama and chaos that had come about since Xisuma had somehow met, and brought Grian to HermitCraft.

Building in the Hippie commune was surprisingly fun and easy to do, and Mumbo was enjoying himself immensly. His limited building skills seemed to be working in his favour for the most part, and Mumbo felt proud of the camper-van he'd designed and was staying in temporarily. It was warm and cozy and Mumbo liked that he didn't really need to worry about as much as usual.

He could calm himself down, and plan out how he would get Iskall and Doc and False back so they could fight Rowan.

The change of clothes probably helped too. Mumbo really liked the comfortable, warm clothes that Renbob had given to him, and he couldn't help but feel relaxed when he snuggled into the turtleneck every five seconds.

Of course, Mumbo was aware that he had no right to feel happy or relaxed. Not while Iskall was in danger. Not while Doc was avoiding him. Not while False was being blackmailed.

Not while Grian was being possessed.

Not when it was up to Mumbo (and Renbob) to try and save their friends. 

—-

Putting out the campfire, Mumbo glanced at Renbob's camper-van anxiously. The other Hippie appeared to be asleep, although Mumbo couldn't be sure.

He decided to leave it. Whatever was happening with Renbob wasn't as important right now.

He clutched onto the Doc mask he'd bought from the villagers under the Statue of Hermity and slunk out of the Hippie Commune.

He was going to try and break in tonight.

Whether he was prepared or not was a whole other matter.

Making it to the fence, Mumbo took advantage of his bean pole frame and slipped through the wide gaps in the fence, his bare feet sinking into the soft ground on the other side. The moon hung overhead, and Mumbo looked up wistfully.

That wasn't important right now though.

Mumbo crept through the trees, glancing around Area 77. He needed to find where Iskall was being kept, so he  
could save his enby friend.

Nothing was that simple though.

Continuing to creep through the forest, Mumbo felt the ground go slightly damp under his feet, and he looked down. There was some dark stain on the floor, sticky to touch and a brownish red in colour. The smell of iron filled the air, and Mumbo had to suppress the urge to throw up.

Then he saw it.

More specifically, he saw Cub, and the cause of the sticky red on the floor.

Mumbo let out a shrill shriek of surprise, his hands shooting up to cover his mouth. In desperation to keep hidden from Doc and Scar or in horror, Mumbo wasn't sure.

Cub was dead, a pained, panicked look in Cub's wide, glazed over eyes. A trail of dried blood ran from the corner of Cub's mouth down to his chin. Cub's coat was torn and stained with the same liquid now covering Mumbo's hands.

Mumbo actually threw up when he saw how Cub's stomach had been torn out.

Tears rolled down Mumbo's cheeks and he let out a choked sob, wiping his eyes and mouth with his sleeve. He stumbled backwards into a tree, clutching onto the bark for any support he could possibly receive from it.

Cub was dead.

Permanently.

Just like Jevin was.

And it was all Mumbo's fault. 

—-

Mumbo hadn't know. how long he'd been sitting there for until the sun started to rise, and another scream was heard.

Scar's scream.

The Convex had stumbled across Mumbo and Cub, Mumbo sitting there numbly in a pool of blood. He wasn't crying anymore, the tears on his cheeks now dry.

Mumbo looked up at Scar, vaguely registering that Scar was supposed to be part of the enemy, so why was Scar surprised?

Then it dawned on Mumbo that maybe Cub's death wasn't the work of Scar and Doc.

Maybe this was Rowan and Heidi and Kady's fault.

The mental image of Xisuma and Grian and Stress sadistically tearing Cub's stomach out made Mumbo want to puke again.

The next thing Mumbo knew, Scar was clutching onto him, crying into Mumbo's shoulder despite Cub's blood staining Mumbo's turtleneck.

Mumbo let Scar grieve. What else could he do? 

—-

"We, we need to tell Xisuma."

That was not what Mumbo wanted to hear upon Scar collecting himself enough to formulate a sentence.

"We need to give Cub the send off he deserves, and we can't do that without Xisuma's help." Scar explained, and Mumbo felt a pang in his chest. Scar was right, but they couldn't go to Xisuma for help.

Not while Rowan was in control.

"Let's go find Doc first. Then we'll go from there. Does that sound good?" Mumbo's voice was slightly raspy as he spoke, although Scar agreed with a nod.

Standing up, Mumbo helped Scar up properly, supporting the shorter man. Mumbo could see that Scar was trembling, and Mumbo knew exactly how Scar felt.

"Let's go find him then." Mumbo said. Scar nodded again, and Mumbo smiled faintly.

They could do this.

Couldn't they?


	27. Iskall's helpful! For once...

Doc felt sick.

Cub was _dead. _Lying in the forest, his stomach torn out. Lying dead on the grounds where Doc and Scar had built there secret project.__

__Not a very good look for them, huh?_ _

__Mumbo and Scar had come looking for Doc, the creeper hybrid having been confused when he'd seen them. Mumbo was covered in blood, dried tear tracks down his cheeks, and Scar was sobbing, Mumbo barely able to hold up Doc's fellow guard._ _

__Mumbo had explained that he'd come to try and break Iskall out (Doc remembering with a wince that Rowan had forced them to lock Iskall up because Rowan had done something to them) when he'd come across Cub's body. Scar had stumbled across them early this morning, and they'd decided to tell Doc before they went to Xisuma, a decision Doc was sure Mumbo had made._ _

__A good decision, honestly._ _

__Doc wasn't sure what would have happened if Rowan had gotten his hands on a distraught Scar, dragging Mumbo along._ _

__Not when Mumbo was probably the biggest problem Rowan was facing._ _

__

__\---_ _

__

__Mumbo was now catching Scar and Ren up on what was happening. The two Hippies and one of the Area 77 guards were in Mumbo's campervan._ _

__The four had given Cub a burial, and Doc had dragged Cleo out to the forest too, burying the zombie next to Cub. Neither Cleo nor Cub deserved to have died like they did, brutally murdered by Rowan, Kady and Heidi._ _

__Killed at the hands of people they thought they could trust._ _

__After all, Cleo wouldn't have known what was happening. She would have thought that Xisuma or Stress or Grian had betrayed her._ _

__Cub wouldn't have had any clue about the possession of the three Hermits. He'd have thought that they'd snapped._ _

__Cleo and Cub being buried split them up. Doc decided he'd search Area 77 for any possible clues about Rowan, knowing very well that False had recently visited with a few bundles of papers (or something) that Rowan had told her to put in Area 77 for safe keeping._ _

__Walking the once familiar halls, looking through all the Sectors of the area, Doc kept a keen eye out for anything he knew hadn;t been there before._ _

__Glancing up at the sky, Doc could see it was now late afternoon, vaguely realising that Cub and Cleo's burial had taken a little longer than they'd hoped. He let out a groan as he realised that it was Iskall's feeding time, a wave of guilt crashing into him again._ _

__Iskall._ _

__Every time Doc thought of the Swede he felt immensly guilty. Rowan, Heidi and Kady had done something to Iskall, making them go feral. They were turning into some sort of dragon hybrid, and Doc had a bad feeling about Rowan's plans for Iskall._ _

__Collecting a couple of cows and starting to lead them towards Iskall's chamber using a couple handfuls of wheat, Doc paused when he reached his friend._ _

__The creeper hybrid could barely see through thick, scratched the glass, but he could have sworn that he could see Iskall already chewing on something._ _

__Something paper._ _

__Leading the cows into Iskall's chamber, feeling another pang of guilt when he met Iskall's eye with his own, the purple hue unfamiliar to Doc, he snatched up the papers and left those cows to their doom._ _

__He didn't know why, but these papers seemed important._ _

__Maybe they'd help Doc and his friends beat Rowan._ _

__

__\---_ _

__

__Fortunately, the papers seemed to be something useful. Doc could barely read them, the handwriting smudged and some parts torn up from where Iskall had been chewing (not to mention the missing pages), but they spoke of a 'Project A' that someone, presumably Xisuma had been studying over Seasons 3 and 4 of HermitCraft._ _

__From what Doc had read, and the little he knew about Rowan, the more Doc was sure that the "Project A" Xisuma had written about was Rowan. The descriptions and behaviours were strikingly similar._ _

__Flicking through the pages while he walked away from Area 77, heading towards the the Hippie commune. Mumbo and the others would want to know about this._ _

__

__\---_ _

__

__Mumbo did not yet want to know about what Doc had read about, because when Doc reached Mumbo's campervan, he found that Ren had tied Mumbo up and Scar was accusing Mumbo of betraying Xisuma and HermitCraft as a whole._ _

__"What's going on?" Doc decided to interupt and help Mumbo out._ _

__Scar whirled around, and Doc took a moment to appreciate that both Scar and Mumbo were in clean, non blood stained clothes now. Mumbo had gone back to wearing his suit (minus the jacket) and Scar had similarly thrown his normal outfit on._ _

__Had Scar and Ren and Mumbo registered that he was here now?_ _

__Doc assumed so. Mumbo looked relieved, Scar looked ready to speak and Ren was still tying intricate knots into the leads tying Mumbo to the chair._ _

__"Mumbo's trying to turn us on Xisuma by claiming that him, Grian and Stress are supposedly possessed, murdered Cleo, Cub and Jevin and are trying to hurt us too!"_ _

__There it was._ _

__"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's all true." Doc said dryly, digging through his inventory. He fished out the book False had given to them ages ago, throwing it at Scar. "False is being blackmailed under the threat of Cleo's life, and probably knows more than us. 'Grian' tortured Mumbo and I, and I assume that he was the one to kill Jevin who was caught trying to free us from a burning room."_ _

__Doc was going to continue on when he heard False's voice chime in, the creeper whirling around to see False having just entered the campervan._ _

__"Kady was bragging about her successfully starting to break up the Convex a few hours ago, to which Heidi chimed in, bragging about how she murdered Cub. Rowan had to stop them from fighting, saying that Kady should move onto seperating the ZIT guys next."False said flatly._ _

__Mumbo perked up._ _

__"I assume that you've learned of Cleo's current affiliation?" Mumbo asked, and False nodded._ _

__"Cleo's dead. Bad move on their part, since they no longer have anything to hold over me. I'm back in the game, and I'm gonna fight harder than ever before."_ _

__Doc glanced around the room, striding oer to Mumbo. He used his sword to slice Mumbo free from the chair, the moustached man offering Doc a thankful glance._ _

__"Either way, when I fed Iskall, I saw that Iskall was chewing up a few papers. I salvaged as many as I could while Iskall was distracted and got out of there." Doc threw those papers down onto a couple of upturned wooden staircases he had in his inventory, smoothing them out._ _

__"There are some gaps in the papers, but I think this is pretty important. It sounds like Xisuma was researching some sort of entity he named 'Project A' back in Season 3 and 4 of Hermitcraft. When it escaped, Xisuma panicked and brought us all to Season 5. I have reason to believe that Rowan and Project A are the same being."_ _

__False fixed up her gloves, before pulling a few pages over towards her._ _

__"Let's get reading then. We've got a lot of pages to get through, and we need to get rid of Rowan as soon as possible. Before anything else goes wrong." False said, and Doc nodded his agreement, prying a few papers from the rest of them._ _

__He felt vaguely confident for the future, and that was a good thing._ _

__He hoped so, at least._ _


	28. Ren's confused

There was a lot to process, and Ren didn't have much time to process anything before Mumbo passed him a few papers. 

For one, he'd just learned that Xisuma, Stress and Grian weren't themselves anymore? And were supposedly being puppeted by these weird shadow entities? 

That was really weird. 

Not to mention that Grian (or Heidi/Kady. Ren couldn't remember which one of them it was) had tortured Mumbo and Doc? Mumbo had even shown them the scar to prove it? 

Ren had decided to not even ask about False being blackmailed yet. He wanted to understand the basics of Mumbo and Doc's situation, and then he'd get onto asking about False's side of the story. 

The overwhelming, unspoken question of "Iskall's feeding time" looming over Ren's head didn't help. What had happened to Iskall? Why were they relying on Doc to feed them? 

What was going on? 

\---

Reading through the papers was difficult. The ink was smudged with water, and Ren wasn't a big reader anyways, half the words on the papers being words he didn't know. It felt like Joe had written these papers, except the handwriting was messier and they were less poetic. 

Ren's head was swimming with information, and Ren wasn't sure how much he wanted to continue this. Sure, taking down this Rowan person sounded important, but Ren wasn't suited to reading five hundred pages of information about a person hat Ren didn't know existed until an hour ago. 

Taking a few more pages to half read through, Ren slumped over, resting his chin on his hand while he skimmed over the pages. 

They said something about the Void, and either a nether star or an end crystal, which seemed kind of important. Ren wasn't sure. He'd not been paying too much attentin while he'd been reading. 

The part about the Void and one of those two items sounded important though, and Ren kept on going back to it. 

Really important. 

Ren called Doc over, the creeper hybrid making his presense known by placing a cold hand on Ren's shoulder. The werewolf looked up, before showing the paper to Doc, muttering something about what he'd read. 

Doc took the papers gently, before he walked away, leaving Ren where he was sitting. 

The silence was broken by Doc speaking. 

"Ren, you're a genius." 

Ren looked up in surprise. "That's not something I hear a lot." He remarked, joking around. Seriously though. What had he done that was so good? 

It definitely wasn't tying up Mumbo earlier, and Ren couldn't recall anything else he'd done that could invoke hat response. Maybe pointing out the thing in the paper? 

"I think we've found a way to get rid of Rowan."


	29. This should be fun

He was running. 

Grian was running, and his lungs ached and his legs hurt, but he ran anyways. 

He'd finally escaped Heidi after all, and he was going to take the chance to escape while he could. 

See, Rowan and Heidi and Kady had been holding their monthly meeting. Grian had, once again, been pressed up against Xisuma's side, clinging onto the admin. Stress had been nearby, although Grian had barely payed attention to her. 

Xisuma, being the only comfort he'd had since Heidi appeared, had helped calm and anchor Grian. That was when he'd spotted an exit. They'd been in his original infinity room, and Rowan had stupidly left them near the exit. Grian had made a run for it while they weren't looking while Xisuma and Stress promised to cover for him if they realised. 

Grian wasn't sure how long he'd been running, but he'd not stopped since he'd left his base. He didn't want Xisuma and Stress' efforts to go to waste. 

Grian wasn't sure where he was now. Spruce trees surrounded him from eery angle, and it was starting to get dark. 

He thankfully had his inventory with him, and therefore had food, torches and weapons (Grian had made sure to grab it before he left) but aside from that, Grian was ;eft without much else. 

Including a bed. 

Fun. 

Not trusting Heidi to have slept recently, Grian felt comfort in the familiar weight of his pickaxe, sing it to hollow out a small area in a nearby hill. He crafted a furnace and started to smelt for some charcoal, setting up a campfire outside of his hole. 

He could put it out tomorrow. For now, he needed warmth and sleep. 

He could continue to flee in the morning. 

Sitting down by the campfire, Grian pulled out his communicator, opening the group chat. He knew that if Heidi or Rowan or Kady caught him, he'd be in trouble, but he felt obligated to try and warm his friends. 

Grian: dont trust x or stress. they arent who they say they are anymore.

The moment he pressed send, Grian felt a shift in the air. A chill ran down his spine, and Grian wasn't sure what for. He opened his communicator, checking over it. 

There were a lot of confused messages. 

Tango: Grian? What does that mean?

Zedaph: ???

Impulsesv: why wouldnt they be themselves? 

Mumbo had even shot him a private message. 

MumboJumbo: this is grian right? 

MumboJumbo: not heidi?

Grian: yeah, this is he

Grian: i've run off. i escaped. heidi is left without a "host", and i'm a free man

Grian: for now

MumboJumbo: good. stay safe for me, g

Grian: You too, Mumby

Closing his communicator, Grian scanned the dark sky, no spotting any phantoms. 

Maybe Heidi was better at taking care of him than he was good at it. 

Grian smiled though. He was safe, and away from Heidi. 

He just hoped that Xisuma was okay. (And the others, but mainly Xisuma.)

\---

Grian woke to find that he was no longer by his campfire. 

He was in a bed, blankets comfortably wrapped around him. There was a card with writing next to him on a table, grian leaning over to pick it up nce he'd woken up properly. He stretched out his wings as he opened the card, skimming a short and concerned message which questioned why Grian was asleep, nxxt to a burning fire, half covered in snow. 

There was no signature to the card though, much to Grian's dissapointment. 

He wanted to know who'd saved him from frostbite! 

Luckily, his answer came quickly. 

He could hear oddly familiar voices from outside the door of the room, one seemingly scolding or covincing the other to do something. 

Then they walked in, and Grian had to do a double take of who he was looking at. 

"Xisuma?"

The other sighed, shaking his head. "No, that's my brother. I'm Xerexis, although you may know of me as Evil Xisuma, the 'evil' twin." 

That explained the red ersion of Xisuma's normal outfit, and why this person has red eyes and white hair compared to Xisuma's brown hair and blue eyes. 

Then the other person bounced into the room, and Grian had to do another double take. 

"HELLO, GRIAN!"

It was NPC Grian. 

This should be fun.


	30. Xisuma's in trouble now...

His heart was pounding as he watched Grian flee through the white wall of the infinity room, the purple wings and comforting red sweater that Grian wore now vanishing.

The spot beside Xisuma where Grian usually rested, his wings and arms wrapped around Xisuma was now cold, and Xisuma could feel the emptiness amd the fear start to set in. Stress snuggled into Xisuma's other side, the admin able to feel her shaking. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, leaning into her.

They would get through this.

Grian would tell everyone what was happening via communicator, and Rowan and the others would be defeated, and then everything would be okay. They could move onto season 7 without a care in the world.

Of course, nothing was that simple. But Xisuma could hope, couldn't he? 

—-

"Where's my host?"

Xisuma looked up, his eyes shooting open when he heard Heidi speak. Fear clenched at him, holding him tightly. His breathing became slightly strained, as if someone were closing a fist around his throat, and Xisuma couldn't help but start ahaking.

Heidi scared him more than Rowan did, if he were completely honest. At least Rowan's wants he could vaguely understand. Heidi on the other hand, was Grian if his want for destruction and chaos was multiplied by ten, added to Xerexis' want for destruction and then compacted into something small, ready to burst.

And that scared Xisuma.

"Where is my host, Xisuma?" Heidi flew at Xisuma, landing on his arm. Her claws felt like burning metal pressing against his bare arm, and her white eyes were staring into Xisuma's soul.

"I don't know." Xisuma said, not lying. He didn't know where Grian was. All he knew was that Grian was away from here, and away from Heidi.

Heidi wrenched her claws further into Xisuma's arm, and while she left no physical injury, it felt,like his arm was burning, and Xisuma found it difficult to concentrate while his arm felt like it was being held in an open fire.

"We'll find him, Heidi. And when we do, he'll be punished accordingly. Until then, fly around and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Keep an eye on Mumbo Jumbo and Doc Monster, and make sure Iskall85 stays in their enclosure until we need them." Rowan interrupted, making Heidi huff.

She fluttered off, sitting on the ground nearby while Rowan stared at Xisuma.

"Kady, take Stress Monster and go. Heidi, start your new duties. I'll deal with Xisuma Void, and find out what he might know about Grian's disappearance.

Then the others were gone, and Xisuma was left alone with Rowan.

Who looked angry.

Xisuma was screwed.


End file.
